


You've Got Fade

by drellassassin



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: But we're just gonna have fun with it, F/M, Minor Female Lavellan/Cullen Rutherford, Minor Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus, Modern AU, This might be fluffy, alternate universe - You've Got Mail, alternate universe - modern AU, it makes sense I promise, it might get angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-13 03:08:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 45,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5692318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drellassassin/pseuds/drellassassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lavellan, pushed to back into the dating scene by her friends, signs up for two online dating services: ThedeasLovers.com and Fade Match. While she ends up with a boyfriend thanks to one of the sites, she cannot cut off communication with her match from Fade Match, only known to her as 'Dread Wolf'. The deeper she gets in with her online contact, the more she wants to meet him -- but well, that usually complicates things, doesn't it?</p>
<p>AKA: You've Got Mail and Dragon Age mixed together, because why the hell not?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

> **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Untitled  
>  **Time:** 9:04 AM  
>    
>  Do you think it’s possible for someone to connect with someone on the internet, better than in person?  
>    
>  \---  
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Re:  
>  **Time:** 9:14 AM  
>    
>  In the way that you and I have connected? I think it’s possible, there is a level of anonymity here, things are easier. I do, in fact, think you and I have a connection; though it may not be easy to figure out _what_ that connection is.  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From** : the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Re:  
>  **Time:** 9:20 AM  
>    
>  Haha, yes! Exactly that! I mean, yeah it’s a lot easier just to email with you back and forth, it’s a nice distraction from my every day. But I agree with you...I really like talking to you, DW.  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Re:  
>  **Time:** 9:35 AM  
>    
>  And I enjoy talking to you. But unfortunately right now, I have to go. Meeting. I’ll email later. Let me know how your interview goes, and good luck. Remember: be calm. Remember to breathe.  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Re:  
>  **Time:** 9:36 AM  
>    
>  Shit, I almost forgot about it! Thanks for the reminder. I promise to breathe. _Maybe_. Chat later!  
>    
> 

******

  
  
If Leyah Lavellan was being honest with herself, she should have stopped corresponding with this ‘Dread Wolf’ character months ago. It had been a simple thing at first, when she signed up for online dating thanks to the pushing of Varric, who insisted that someone her age should know the ways of dating by now. Because if _he_ could land a girlfriend, couldn’t she just get a date now and then?  
  
Of course, it was always easier said than done, and the more that Varric pushed his friend, the more Leyah _struggled_ to find anyone she could connect with. Meeting people at the local bar, like most people in their early thirties did, was out of the question because she _worked_ at the local bar. Working at Chargers gave her a steady job, with decent pay, a boss who actually wasn’t that hard to deal with (once you got past his unusual taste for the strongest alcohol imaginable), and regulars she had become friends with. So, that meant she couldn’t go and get a date there; she knew every single person that went there, and when she didn’t know them, she got to know them quickly.  
  
It was the problem with photographic memory, once she saw a face, she never forgot them. Most of the time it was useful. But when trying to find a date, just once in her damn life, well that got troublesome.  
  
So she had finally given up and signed up for online dating. Two different sites; one was called Fade Match, which was more of an anonymous system, getting set up with someone based on a survey you filled out -- but you never got to know what the other person put in their profile. No photos, no worrying about what others would read about you. You were just given an email (it was suggested you create a burner email just for this service, until you were prepared to exchange personal information with your matches) and it was up to you to make the first move. That was where she had gotten matched up with ‘Dread Wolf’ eight months ago.  
  
The second online dating site she signed up for was more of a traditional one. Her college roommate Josephine recommended it to her, because _of course_ the overly romantic friend would be the one to recommend a site called ThedasLovers.com. Here, she set up a profile. She took way too long deciding on the right photo (she ended up with one that had her black hair down around her left shoulder, her green eyes a little photoshopped to seem brighter, and deep red lipstick). She wrote out the annoying answers to questions like what her favorite color was (red, green, black), what her favorite band was (“It depends on my mood, usually something rock”), what she did for a living (“I’m a bartender, and I can toss bottles better than most people in Thedas. I swear. I won an award and everything! I can prove it!”), and what she was looking for in a guy (“Someone with some mystery to them. I’m not that picky.”). The answer to the last question was a hard one for her -- mostly because she didn’t know what she was looking for anymore. How could she? She had been out of the dating scene for so long, she was surprised she was even invited back _in_ to give it another shot.  
  
But this second online dating site was where she had met Cullen six months ago.  
  
Cullen, her current boyfriend of six months. Who had no idea she was still talking to this other man she had met on Fade Match, because Leyah was never _ever_ going to tell him. Cullen gave her the connection she so badly had needed; he was warm and kind, he was a fantastic kisser, an even better lover, and he was the perfect boyfriend. But sometimes, that was a problem; he really _was_ perfect. And six months in, she still had no idea what his faults were, or if he even had any. Perfection was well and good, but she was flawed. She was clumsy. She made a hell of a lot of mistakes, and most of those mistakes were the reason why she was where she was now.  
  
Talking with ‘Dread Wolf’ gave her a feeling that she wasn’t alone in all of that. At first, their conversations were casual, getting to know you conversation. Soon, they got deeper. One night, they started to talk about their past mistakes, and while neither of them went into a lot of detail, Leyah knew that he held regret close to the chest. It was all in how he wrote back to her, trying to give advice, but yet not taking his own in fear of messing his life up more. It was a raw moment that Leyah knew she would never get with Cullen.  
  
Not that she hadn’t tried. For a few months, her correspondence with Dread Wolf was limited, as she promised herself to really try to get to know Cullen, to chip under his armor he had around himself.  
  
It didn’t completely work. Which was why her correspondence with Dread Wolf picked up again, especially in the last two months.  
  
The longer she thought about the past few months, the easier it was for Leyah to get distracted and that’s exactly what she was now. Way too distracted, to the point that when her roommate came barging in, he startled her so much she fell out of her chair.  
  
“Leyah! Isn’t your interview in an hour? _Across town_? I mean, I may be amazing and able to charm my way out of any horrible situation I appear _more_ than fashionably late to, but you do not have that luxury. _Get dressed_!”  
  
Leyah pushed herself off the floor and looked up to Dorian and rolled her eyes, throwing her discarded night shirt from the night before towards him. He groaned and tossed it back to her.  
  
“Are you always going to be this _disgusting_? Go, get out of here, I have to get ready for work, and it looks like I’m driving you to your interview now. You have fifteen minutes, or I am leaving your ass here.”  
  
“Aww, Dorian, you’re so _sweet_ to me!”  
  
He laughed, and rolled his eyes, “Fourteen minutes now!”  
  


******

  
  
Dorian was right; Leyah _couldn’t_ talk her way out of things as well as he could, and because she had been late for her interview, she had lost her chance. She couldn’t allow herself to be too upset though -- an unpaid internship at a local newspaper wasn’t her idea of a good time, even if it was all set up thanks to Varric’s connections.  
  
As she walked out of the office building and out to the busy streets, she thought of pulling out her phone, thinking to email Dread Wolf to tell him how her interview bombed, but her phone ended up ringing instead. The bright text of ‘Cullen’ flashed on the screen, and she slid the screen over to open it.  
  
“Hey!” She cheerfully answered, and his tone was a happy one in return.  
  
“You sound happy! Does this mean you got the internship?” His voice resonated with happiness, and she laughed, quickly walking through the cold streets towards her second destination for the night.  
  
“Nope!” She replied just as happily, and she could hear Cullen’s confused sounds on the other end.  
  
“I...well, then why are you so happy?”  
  
“I never really wanted it anyways, Varric just suggested it for me. I mean, I’m too old for an internship now. And I like my job.”  
  
“You’re just going to _bartend_ for the rest of your life?” Cullen said with a slight disappointment in his voice, and she could hear chatter in the background. There was a woman in the background giving instructions on how to do a proper martial arts position, and she was growing frustrated in at the woman she was teaching.  
  
“Who is that?” Leyah asked, taking the chance to change the subject quickly, while she ran across the street, waving at a car who let her pass by. “Trevelyan or Pentaghast?”  
  
“Trevelyan,” Cullen answered, with a hint of amusement in his voice. Leyah had met her once - Ellana Trevelyan worked with Cullen at the gym he owned, and was also his ex-girlfriend. Leyah was well aware that she should be jealous of the fact that her boyfriend was working very closely with his ex-girlfriend, and even working late nights with him, but lately...that was harder to pretend.  
  
Besides, she had someone else who kept occupying her time anyway. Totally besides the point though. Because it was a secret. And because it was on the internet, meant it totally wasn’t real.  
  
Right?  
  
“But don’t change the subject, Leyah!” Cullen scowled over the phone, and with how his voice sounded, she swore she could see the facial expression.  
  
She laughed, as she kept heading down the street, until she got to Chargers, and opened the door. As she walked in, she saw Krem behind the bar, with his arms crossed over his chest, and a smirk on his face as Leyah make the universal symbol of _this person won’t stop talking_ with her hand as she headed towards the back. “Cullen, it’s fine! Really! I’ll see you tonight, right?”  
  
“Yeah, I might bring some people from the gym, but I’ll see you. But we’re not done with this conversation!” His determination to keep talking about the failed interview only made her more amused; why he cared so much about this, she had no idea, but it was cute of him to try.  
  
Cute. That was a word she used far too much to describe her boyfriend. Shouldn’t she be using handsome, or rugged? Cute seemed too… _childish_. God, she still wasn’t any good at this.  
  
But Cullen’s insistence made Leyah laugh, as she reached the back room of Chargers and finished up the call with a “Yeah, we are, _okayIhavetogobye_ ,” before she hung up the phone. The phone was tossed to the table as she shrugged off her jacket and put her purse into her locker, pulling her long black hair into a high ponytail and grabbing her spare clothes to change into.  
  
When she came back wearing her Chargers black t-shirt and dark jeans, her phone vibrated. At first she rolled her eyes thinking it was Cullen again, but grinned when she realized it was her roommate.  
  


  
_Dorian - 4:43 PM_  
How’d the interview go?

_Leyah - 4:43 PM_  
Oh, it didn’t happen. I was WAY too late.

_Dorian - 4:44 PM_  
See? I was right! Always listen to me!  
I’ll be at the bar later tonight.  
Get my drink ready.

_Leyah - 4:45 PM_  
It doesn’t take two hours to get a vodka martini ready!

_Dorian - 4:45 PM_  
It does if you make it right!  
Chop, chop!

  
  
Her phone was tucked into her back pocket, heading out to the front of the bar. Krem just shook his head towards her, “Boss is gonna think it’s weird you’re two hours early for your shift. Don’t you have anything better to do? Or _anyone_?”  
  
Leyah grinned, as she tossed a napkin towards Krem for his last comment, “I got to be early for something important today, right?”  
  
“So, you bombed the interview?” Her boss’ voice called out, and she turned to see Bull leaning against the bar, with a more than amused look on his face. “Krem, you owe me $20.”  
“But boss, you _just_ gave me that for her being here early!”  
  
“Yeah, and I won the other bet, so give it back!” He held out his hand with a “give me’ motion, and Leyah made no attempt to hide her laughter. “You know, kid, Varric is gonna kill you.”  
  
“Nah, he loves me. He’s a teddy bear! Just means I need to give him drinks on my tab for a while.” She shrugged, as she set up at the nearby register. As she worked, there was a pause before she realized something and looked back at Bull and Krem with a scowl on her face. “Wait, why are you two betting against me?”  
  
Both men burst out laughing.  
  


******

  
  
Two hours later, Chargers was filled to the brim, Krem and Leyah were flipping bottles and doing their usual routine, Dorian was in the corner of the bar flirting with Bull (though he was trying to pretend that he wasn’t), and Leyah was making good on tips for the night.  
  
Though, once Varric came in and yelled at her, those tips went to paying for his drinks for the night, but ultimately it was all in good fun. Because he knew when he set it up she wasn’t going to leave Chargers. But as the person who paid her way through college and set her up with every scholarship that Thedas had to offer, she owed him. Hell, she also owed him her life, and while he kept telling her she never had to repay him for that, she knew she’d always try. It was the honorable thing to do.  
  
“Hey, sparkler,” Varric called over to Dorian, as Leyah filled his glass with another beer, “You owe me $20 - she blew it.”  
  
“You know, I was _hoping_ you’d forget about that wager, Varric…” Dorian said with a grin, as Leyah stood with her hands on her hips, bewildered.  
  
“Did _everyone_ decide to bet against me today?!” She groaned in frustration, and tossed her bar towel onto the bar counter with dramatic flair.  
  
She wasn’t surprised when most of the bar answered with _Yes_. Rolling her eyes, Leyah made a much more dramatic scene, declaring she knew when she wasn’t wanted, and that she was going on her much needed break. This earned her a laugh from Dorian, who called out that he taught her well - she was picking up his flair for the dramatic after all.  
  
An email from Dread Wolf was waiting for her when she sat down in the back room, and she couldn’t hide the excitement that came over her, even for just a simple conversation. This was what she looked forward to. The email was time stamped from two hours ago, but she answered anyway, hoping he was still around.  
  


******

>   
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Interview?  
>  **Time:** 4:50 PM  
>    
>  I have a few moments before I finish the last of my work, and I was thinking of you.. How did your interview go? Did you wow them with your charm?  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:45 PM  
>    
>  Oh, I bombed it spectacularly! _So spectacularly_ that it got cancelled and they offered it to someone else.  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:46 PM
> 
>   
>  Ah. So, you were late?  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:50 PM  
>    
>  I was _so_ late. And apparently everyone I know was making a bet about me being late? Everyone is passing around $20, that’s how many bets were made against me today. It’s actually really amusing, I wish I was in on the bet. I could have made some money!  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:50 PM  
>    
>  If it helps, I wouldn’t have bet against you. But, if it meant getting $20 out of it...I might have upped it to $40. I have expensive tastes.  
>    
>  \---  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?
> 
> **Time:** 7:50 PM  
>    
>  Oh, that’s really good to know. Next time I buy you an imaginary gift, I’ll make sure to hit that sweet $40 limit. How fancy of you!  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:51 PM  
>    
>  I do what I can, Inquisitor.  
>    
>  \---  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:53 PM  
>    
>  _Uh huh_. Listen, gotta get back on my shift. Will you….I don’t know, be around at 3 AM when I get home? _Please_?  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:55 PM
> 
>   
>  Sorry. 9-5 job means normal hours. But I have tomorrow off. Will try to catch you then.  
>    
>  \--  
>    
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interview?  
>  **Time:** 7:59 PM  
>    
>  Sounds good! Sleep well.  
>    
> 

******

  
  
If anyone noticed Leyah’s better mood once she came back off break, no one said anything. In fact, Dorian had decided to attribute it to the fact that when she came off break, Cullen had walked into the bar with Ellana and Cassandra, and simply assumed Leyah was happy to see her gym trainer boyfriend.  
  
(Or so she thought.)  
  
Her phone in her pocket vibrated with a notification, and thinking it was Dread Wolf writing back to her, she quickly took it out to look at it, only to see someone else’s name instead.  
  


  
_Dorian - 8:15 PM_  
Don’t think I don’t see that smirk on your face  
Stop looking at your phone!  
Your gorgeous boyfriend just walked in!

  
  
She glared at Dorian from her phone and she put her phone away, before hissing a “ _Jerk_ ” at him, which caused him to look at her in the most curious of ways. As if he knew she might be hiding something. He had opened his mouth to talk to her more, when Cullen came over to say hello. Saved by the bell, but she knew she’d be cornered by Dorian later that night. Oh the joys of it being Friday night - it meant her roommate would be home the next day to bother her and get information out of her (gossip mostly) that she didn’t want to share. Unless there was a bottle or three of wine.  
  
Which, there _usually_ was.  
  
“Hey,” Cullen’s voice distracted her, as she walked over to where he was, leaning on the bar with a grin, with Ellana next to him. Leyah poured them both a beer - they both liked the same one, but Leyah thought nothing of it - and leaned on the bar to give her boyfriend a kiss. It was a quick one, they were in public after all, but she noticed how Ellana looked away with a strange look (was that jealousy?) in her eyes. Shrugging it off, Leyah brought her attention to Cullen for the moment. “Hey yourself.”  
  
“So with the holidays, I’m heading home to see my sister, I was wondering if you’d want to come with me?” Cullen asked, and she could see the hopefulness in his eyes. Hoping she’d come meet the family. Hoping they could make things a little more _official_ \-- after dating for six months, they hadn’t discussed moving in since she declined his offer two months ago (oddly timed with when her correspondence with Dread Wolf picked back up, but she wouldn’t dwell on that), and there was no talk of marriage or any other movements. Hell, Leyah couldn’t even tell Cullen if she loved him or not; though he had been quick to tell her that three months in.  
  
Okay, so she was _terrible_ in relationships, but at least she knew it.  
  
Still, Cullen was expecting an answer. Perfect Boyfriend Cullen (™) was looking for an answer and she could tell that Ellana was listening for it too, even if she was doing her best to hide it. Leyah couldn’t blame her. Or maybe she could. She really needed to work on this ‘possessive over boyfriend’ thing, but she couldn’t be bothered. “I can’t,” Leyah said, with a sad look on her face, “I need to pick up more hours here, and you know how Bull needs me around the holidays.”  
  
She knew Krem was in listening distance and she’d get an ear-full from him later for her little white lie, but she couldn’t help it. The idea of going home with Cullen to meet family just...well it didn’t seem right. Not yet.  
  
“Alright, I understand completely.” Cullen said, perfect Cullen with his perfect answers, and his perfect smile. He leaned over the bar and kissed her once more, just as Krem used a towel to hit her arm and nudged her to get back to work. Cullen got a hint of red to his cheeks and grabbed his beer, and headed off to the side of the bar to chat with Ellana, while Leyah got back to her job.  
  
She knew she should be worried about how much time Cullen was spending with his ex. Hell, she knew she was going to get a lecture about it after, once the bar closed and everyone was gone for the night. It was expected - Leyah could only play the ‘I’m horrible at dating’ for so long, considering she was the one who had willingly signed up for online dating in the first place.  
  
(To her fault, she hadn’t expected it to go _that_ well. Or at all, if she was being honest.)  
  
By the time the bar was closing, and Krem and Leyah were done cleaning up, Bull was chatting with Dorian in the corner, and Leyah took a chance to look at her phone.  
  
An email, sent hours ago, popped up. From Dread Wolf. All it said was _Enjoy your dreams, lethal'lan._  
  
Her cheeks went a bright shade of red, and she grinned at her phone, which finally got Dorian to call her out on it.  
  
“Leyah, that better be a sext from Cullen that has you blushing, or you have a _lot_ of explaining to do!” He shouted at her from the door, his hands on his hips, as Bull chuckled next to him.  
  
Her sheepish look said it all, as she got out from behind the bar to head into the back room to grab her things. She didn’t have to see Dorian to know he got a mischievous look in his eye, and a devious smirk. “Bull, got a few bottles of wine I can take off you?” She heard him say, and she groaned.  
  
Dammit.


	2. Chapter 2

_Enjoy your dreams, lethal'lan._  
  
He wasn’t sure if he should have sent that. He was growing awfully attached to his “Inquisitor”, more than he wanted to admit, but after eight months of correspondence, how could he not? It had been a long time, and he found he had no time to make the considerations that he usually did when entering into some sort of a romantic dalliance. Normally he was calculated, he came off as cold, he was too concerned with his own mistakes from the past and his self-worth that he tended to wave off any idea of a connection with anyone. There were few people he called friends, or at least acquaintances, and both of those were co-workers; the public relations and marketing coordinator at his Museum and another History Museum Curator who had a flair for the dramatic and seemed to had perfected an eye roll better than he did.  
  
Most of his life these days, all he did was work. It was work and nothing else, because he wouldn’t allow him a chance of anything else. He had taken risks before in his life, and they went his way for a while until they didn’t and suddenly backfired brilliantly. He had become the king of exploding everything around him, and that causes a man to lose a few friends. Even a few enemies. These days, he kept to himself.  
  
Well, outside of talking to his Inquisitor.  
  
Though, he couldn’t exactly call her _his_ , could he? He had never met the woman, he didn’t even know her name, and had only signed up for Fade Match because a very persistent man insisted that “as a fellow writer, you have to get out from behind your work and _meet people_ , Solas.” He would have been cursing Varric if the man hadn’t been so correct in his assessment. He needed to meet people, or at least talk to someone outside of Dorian and Josephine. Both of them were so far off from the people he would normally converse with, that finding someone he _could_ slightly relate to was comforting.  
  
Though, he couldn't really say he related to anyone, really, but that was his own particular brand of self pride taking.  
  
But his correspondence with his mysterious pen pal began simply enough. He had expected nothing, and because of that, his expectations were met and then some. She was funny, she was intelligent, and they spoke long into the morning, and tried to wish each other a good night before each ending conversation. There had been a time when the emails slowed down, where they were not as frequent, but it matched up to Solas’ work picking up and thus it wasn’t something he noticed.  
  
Well, he noticed it, but he didn’t allow himself the time to dwell on it. So when it picked up again two months ago, and at a far faster pace than it had previously, he couldn’t help himself. He answered every email. He spoke with her every day. Writing to her gave him a sense of purpose outside of work, even though it sounded rather strange. _Writing to someone online, that you’ve never met, and you look forward to her every word. Strange, indeed._ But his acquaintances were right. He needed interaction. And while it may not be in person interaction, it was a start. Only one of them was aware that he had signed up for Fade Match to begin with, and said person was sworn to never tell. And for all the stories that man weaved in and out, he had kept his promise.  
  
There was something to be said for loyalty. It was something Solas always appreciated, above all. You could tell a lot about a person based on who and what they were loyal to.  
  
Which is what made his mysterious email friend so interesting. Eight months, and he still wasn’t sure who she was loyal to. He knew the basics, her general job (bartender), her age (early/mid thirties, she was vague and so was he), and he was starting to get an idea of her hopes and fears.  
  
For example, she had feared leaving her current job because it had become comfortable, but also that those she worked with were like family to her. She didn’t have family, not any more, and she enjoyed the little family she created for herself. That was admirable, and he had told her so. They had that in common, at least with the respect of not having a family. His was long gone, and hers...well they seemed to be out of the picture as well. How they were out, he wasn’t sure, and he wasn’t about to pry.  
  
He understood that some secrets needed to remain a secret, after all.  
  
But...it also didn’t stop him from wanting to know more. Their emails were the highlight of his day, and from the way she spoke with him, especially recently, he assumed the same of her. It brought a brightness to his cheeks, a bounce in his step.  
  
When he had awoken the next morning, after his previous email to her the night before, he had immediately checked his phone. Rubbing at his eyes, trying to get his eyes to focus, he held the phone out in front of him as he scrolled through emails from work. There was an email from Josephine regarding the holiday company party, which he replied “No” to. Simply that, just “No” and sent it away, knowing she’d bother him about it but he wouldn’t go. There was an email from Dorian regarding a new piece they had just gotten in, and how he was calling dibs on it, even though that wasn’t how they worked. _He loves to infuriate me,_ he thought, as he kept scrolling past his emails until he saw one that made him smile.  
  
There it was, her email in his inbox, waiting for him to read.  
  


>   
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Interesting…  
>  **Time:** 8:56 AM
> 
> _Lethal'lan_ , huh? I haven’t heard that in a long time. I like hearing that from you. Or...I guess _reading_ it from you, since I don’t exactly know what you sound like! Anyway, good morning, _lethal'lin_. Remind me why I’m up so early on a Saturday? I feel like I was stomped on by a halla.

He couldn’t help but grin at it, a good way to start off the morning, as he set the phone to the side before deciding to answer. There were things to attend to. Like shower. Food. Reading the news. Finishing his work.  
  
All these things to do… _after_ he answered her email, he decided, as he quickly grabbed the phone again and sat up, rapid fire typing away and hitting send.  
  
_Now_ he could get himself ready.  
  


******

  
  


>   
>  **To:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** RE: Interesting...  
>  **Time:** 9:50 AM
> 
> Stomped on by a halla? Now, that doesn’t seem like a way to have a pleasant night. You’re up far earlier than I am, perhaps this is a new record?
> 
> Though you make an interesting observation -- I too have no idea what you sound like, but I have found myself wondering. Would your voice match the idea I have in my mind? Would _my_ voice match what you have in mind, if anything? I will admit I have tried not to think in such terms, as I’d hate to be a disappointment, but it’s crossed my mind. A few times.
> 
> Good morning. You bring a smile to my face, as always.

When she read his email, Leyah practically fell off the couch in glee, and almost flailing.  
  
Okay, that was a complete lie. There was flailing. And yes, it caused her to fall off the couch and onto the floor into a mess of arms and legs, and a sharp pain to her head. She was hungover. _Very_ hungover, thanks to Dorian’s attempts to get out the information from her he was so positive she was hiding from him. He had _almost_ gotten her to spill everything, and she had said a lot that she shouldn’t have.  
  
Like how Cullen had said he loved her, and she couldn’t say it back, because she had muttered something about _uh, the laundry is on fire and I have to go catch it_ and hung up on him. Or how Cullen was just so understanding and so _perfect_ and how she knew how Ellana was staring at him, but she couldn't bring herself to be bothered by it. And how she had met Cullen in the first place -- a story Dorian hadn’t really been privy to before -- and let it slip that she had met two men online.  
  
“ _Two_ men? Oh how _delicious_ ,” He had grinned, as he finished topping off her wine glass, and opened another bottle of wine. Bull had given them three bottles, because Dorian (who loved to deny any feelings he had for Leyah’s boss) knew how to work him. “Well I know now that Cullen was one, but who was the other? Are you still speaking with him? Tell me, is this man the reason for your blushing? The reason you’re always so quick to answer your phone?  
  
_Hmm_?” He had grabbed for her phone then, and she dodged out of the way, and immediately started to tease him about Bull, which Dorian kept trying to dodge verbally.  
  
But eventually, he had gotten ahold of her phone, and had found the emails. Only the most recent ones, but there they were, including the most recent one that had made her blush. Dorian had made an approving sound, followed by a grin, and a proclamation that “you need to meet this man!”  
  
She had immediately protested, following by drinking most of the glass of wine in front of her rapidly, and shook her head no. “I can’t! I have a boyfriend!”  
  
Dorian had scoffed then, “So? You have a boyfriend that you don’t seem that interested in, considering his ex is looking to steal him right out from under your nose. Leyah, are you even happy?”  
  
That question had pushed them in a completely different direction, one that Leyah didn’t remember much of. She did know they both drank more, both ended up passing out in the living room on different couches, and now she was on the floor. Groaning at the pain in her head, but clutching onto her phone tightly.  
“Ugh,” She muttered, pushing herself up from the floor with her hands, and allowing herself to fall back into the couch, in a slightly sitting up manner. She had passed out again after emailing Dread Wolf, but his email woke her up. A much needed surprise, if she was into admitting things to herself today.  
  
Judging by the wine hangover she was now experiencing, it might not be that day.  
  
“Leyah, turn off the sun please.” Dorian’s voice softly begged, one arm flung over his eyes to block out the offending light, his other hand trying to wave said light away, before giving up completely, his arm falling (or more like flopping) to the side of the couch. “You really shouldn’t let me drink that much, this is _your fault_.”  
  
“ _My_ fault? You’re the one who was so determined to get information out of me about --” And shit, she had said too much again, because this caused Dorian to immediately sit up straight and grin at her, and she covered her face with her hand.  
  
“Your _Dread Wolf_! What is a Dread Wolf anyway? What kind of an email handle _is_ that? There is so much more I need to know about this man!” This got a pillow thrown in his face, and he laughed deeply, as his own phone went off. “You’re lucky, saved by the bell, Leyah,” he said as he struggled to stand up and answered the phone.  
  
He walked around the room as Leyah tried to clean up the mess they had made of their living room the night before, hearing bits and pieces of his conversation, “Oh Josie, you _know_ I would go to your party if I wanted to. But the matter is, _I just don’t want to_.” Leyah snickered at this, knowing it was about his company’s holiday party, and Dorian always seemed to skip them. She imagined it had something to do with her boss, but Dorian of course would never tell. At least, not out right. “Did you manage to get Solas to go? Ah, well at least he _answered_ you this time. That’s an improvement, yeah? We will make a person out of him yet!”  
  
Leyah knew of Dorian’s friend Josie from work of course, she had become one of Leyah’s trusted friends (and the reason for ThedasLovers.com and Cullen of course) and Leyah did adore the woman, even if she did take her public relations job a little _too_ seriously at times. Though, she did throw killer parties, Leyah had to hand it to her. Her recent engagement to a Thom Rainer was the engagement party of the year, and Josie seemed awfully proud of it. Dorian’s other co-worker though, Solas, Leyah had never met. From what she had learned from Dorian (and from eavesdropping on him), Solas had moved here recently, and was hired on almost immediately once he moved almost a year ago. He was apparently very good at his job, intellegent, but didn’t have a lot of friends. Dorian, of course, was making it his personal mission to make sure Solas had some friends. It was a constant conversation topic between him and Josie. But still, Leyah had never met him.  
  
“ _Josie_ , I will meet you halfway. How about you come to Chargers tonight _after_ your gala, which is sure to be a hit by the way, and I’ll drag our dear fashion challenged friend along?” Dorian chatted away additional details, as Leyah finished cleaning up the living room and by the time Dorian was done with his phone call, the living room was cleaned.  
  
“Look at that, I just need to chat on the phone to get you to be my personal maid! _How wonderful_!” Dorian laughed, as he walked over to the window to pull back the curtains, apparently forgetting how he had cursed the sun only moments before. He immediately made a hissing sound and backed away into a corner until he leaned against the wall in an attempt to find some sort of shadows to hide in from the sun, “Okay, I forgot about...that sun thing. I’m going back to bed.”  
  
Leyah laughed hard as Dorian flipped her off and headed towards his bedroom on the opposite side of the apartment. She in turn went to her own room, grabbing her phone as she did so, and instead of returning to bed, she undressed and showered. Anything to help make her feel a little less like the walking dead and more like a person. A mostly alive, very hungover, but happy person.  
  
Which, was an all new outlook, if she was being honest with herself. It was a nice change.  
  
Sitting herself down at her computer, she brought up her emails. A few from Cullen, one with a photo of him and his sister. _Already home. Good,_ she thought to herself, as she sent out a small reply to him hoping he had a good week and she’d see him soon. Chances were, he wasn’t going to come home for New Year's Eve, and that was okay with her. She needed the space.  
  
Okay, she didn’t need the space at all. Dorian was right, she really was making up excuses. She had to stop one way or the other.  
  
Other emails she scrolled through, one was for a party at Varric’s place for New Year’s Eve, and she very quickly said that she’d go -- though she’d have to make sure it was okay with Bull first. Not that he ever said no to her, but it was a thought. Another email from Varric came up, regarding his need for a copyeditor for his next book, and he was looking at her for the job. _Also_ , the email read, _You’re a woman. You like woman things, so help me get a present for Cass? Our anniversary is coming up and...well I don’t think she’d like me writing her another erotic story about us as a gift._ She laughed hard at that, remembering all too well how last year went, and how Cassandra would not stop smacking Varric in the arm as he read it to her _out loud_ at Chargers.  
  
He always was one for an audience. She wondered how many days he was in the dog house for that one.  
  
She answered Varric’s email quickly: _Of course I’ll help you. Please don’t write her another story, but if you do, read it in private? You’ll be able to experience more of the side effects from her hearing it that way. Meet me for lunch at Dagna’s Cafe, we’ll shop around there._  
  
The last email, was one she had already read. The one from her Dread Wolf. The one that made her fall off the couch. Had he really considered what she sounded like? She thought about it a lot, when she had an image of him in her mind when she dreamt, when he kissed her like she had never been kissed before, when he ---  
  
\--- She couldn’t let herself get caught up in her dreams, not when she had no idea what he looked like, or what he sounded like. But, the fantasy was nice. It was _really_ nice.  
  


>   
>  **To:** dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  **From:** the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  **Subject:** Re: Interesting…  
>  **Time:** 10:38 AM
> 
> Oh god, it’s like you’ve read my mind! I _have_ thought about what you sound like, guilty as charged. But I think you’d be a much better sound than anything I have in my head, the real thing is _always_ better than the fantasy. Right? I mean, we can dream one thing, but sometimes reality can be that much...better. Maybe one day, we can meet, and I can see just how close my image of you was.
> 
> Also, remind me not to spend all night drinking with my roommate again. There is no strong medication in the world that can help with this headache. And unlike you, I don’t have today off.
> 
> Until later! Hopefully. ;)

The email was sent off, and she turned off her computer, realizing she had to get a few more things in order before she went to meet Varric. Like getting dressed was probably a good idea. And later, she’d have to pester Dorian about his impromptu meeting with co-workers at her place of work. That was _bound_ to have a good story to it. And if there wasn’t, she knew he’d make one up.  
  
Still, she wished she had the day off, just to spend it all day writing with Dread Wolf. Maybe Dorian was onto something after all.  
  
Maybe she _should_ meet him.  
  
Eventually.  
  
Maker, not now, that would be crazy!  
  
Right?


	3. Chapter 3

She had been wandering the shops in downtown for a while now with Varric, him telling a story about...something… and she was finding herself _very_ distracted. Had she really told Dread Wolf she thought about meeting him? Did she really _suggest_ it? She had a boyfriend who she very much...liked and okay maybe she could have liked him a little more, considering he _loved_ her. But he was away back home for the holidays, most likely not coming back for Varric’s party, and she had other things to occupy her time. Like trying to avoid her roommate staring at her while she looked at her phone, or…  
  
There was a sharp jab at her side and she blinked and looked over to Varric, who was poking her with a toy sword and holding a shield grinning. “Hello, Earth to Lei! Are you even listening to me?” Of course, Varric already knew the answer to his question, and he set the tip of the toy sword down on the ground and leaned on it, “Tell your Uncle Varric everything, because you’ve been distracted since we started this quest of gifting things. I’m onto you.”  
  
Leyah sighed, and shrugged her shoulders, as she took the shield from Varric and looked at it. There was an intricate design on it, far more intricate than she had expected for a toy shield, and nodded approvingly. “Get this, she’ll like it. She is always going on about how she would have loved to be a warrior…”  
  
“Leyah! Stop dodging! Though, well yeah I thought of that. Which is why we’re in here. It’d be a good gift?”  
  
“Much better than public erotic storytelling,” She teased back and he laughed.  
  
“Alright, alright! You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?” He said as he started to move out of the aisle of the toy store they were in, and Leyah followed. “Let’s get this wrapped up, and then we can get to a bar. And you can talk.” He said, looking over his shoulder and giving her a stern look, one that Leyah was more than familiar with. He had been the closest thing to family she had since running away from home those years ago, and so sometimes, she got _that_ look. A lot. Not to say she didn’t give it right back to him.  
  
She teased him relentlessly about how he was buying his girlfriend a toy sword and shield, but he had also mentioned it was a bit of an inside joke between the two of them, so she figured there was something else she wasn’t understanding. If she was being honest, she didn’t truly understand Cassandra and Varric and how they made it work; she was too flustered and uptight sometimes, and he was too much of a jokester and a bit of an extravagant liar at times when he wanted to be. But they were happy, and Leyah admired that.  
  
At least one of them was getting the whole relationship thing right. Granted, she had never imagined it would be _Varric_ who was getting it right, but hey, it gave her something to strive for in the new year.  
  
They finally left the store and headed towards a nearby bar that _wasn’t_ Chargers, as Varric had so nicely pointed out that whatever seemed to be distracting her, maybe it was good to keep that a secret from the rest of her friends. “You know, all those friends that work at Chargers with you…” he had added with a smirk at the end, and Leyah had to admit it was a good idea. So they were now sitting at the bar of a new establishment that she hadn’t recognized, drinks in front of them, and Leyah trying her best not to check her phone.  
  
“Seem a little more tense, why don’t you? So are you going to tell me what’s gotten you so...distracted lately?” The question was thrown towards her with a tone of amusement, because he always liked a good story. And Varric knew Leyah very well - when she wasn’t saying something, it usually meant there was a _lot_ to say.  
  
“Do you remember how you made me sign up for those online dating things?”  
  
Varric smirked. Yep. There was definitely a story here. “Now which one? The one I told you to do, or the one our dear overly excitable Ruffles told you to do?”  
  
“Both? Well you know I met Cullen through one.” Leyah said as she shrugged, and took a drink from her glass, “but I don’t think I ever told you about the other one. Cause that one worked as well…”  
  
Varric just looked at Leyah with a smirk, staying uncharacteristically quiet. She glared at him and drank a significant amount of her glass, “Okay so I ended up meeting this guy through Fade Match, I don’t actually _know_ his name, but we’ve been emailing for about eight months--”  
  
“--haven’t you been dating Cullen for only six months?”  
  
“Yes. _Shut up, stop smirking at me_ ,” She said quickly and swatted at his arm, and Varric laughed hard.  
  
“Oh just keep going, I might need to take notes on this.”  
  
“You’re not including this in one of your stories, Varric!”  
  
“No promises, Lei, now keep talking.”  
  
Leyah finished her drink and Varric gestured for her to keep talking. She rolled her eyes before she continued, “Okay yes I have only been dating Cullen six months. But I’ve been talking to this guy for eight. And for a while, I stopped talking to him, like we wouldn’t talk every day like we did before--”  
  
“-- you spoke every day?”  
  
“Yeah. It was small get to know you things at first, never names though. Then we just started talking about our day, venting to each other, telling stories, but still not anything personal enough to really be able to know who the other was? I guess like an air of mystery still. But I realized that I was getting kind of attached to talking to him, so when I started to date Cullen, I decided to taper off a bit. I didn’t really explain _why_ , I just did it.”  
  
Varric drained the rest of his drink and ordered them another round, and rested his head in his hand as he looked over to her, “Makes sense. Give the outstanding curly hair guy a decent chance, got it.” This earned him a glare and he laughed, “What! I’m just making sure I’m up to date on the story!”  
  
“Shut up, or I’ll stop telling it!” He laughed at this and she continued, “So two months ago, remember when I heard from--” He instantly knew what she was talking about and nodded, knowing she wouldn’t want to talk about it, and waved her on. She gave him a thankful smile and continued. “well I needed someone to talk to. Outside of you, of course, I couldn’t burden you with that, and Dorian was at work when it happened. So I emailed him. I didn’t want to tell Cullen, and my email friend seemed to be the right choice. Gave a lot of advice, and we both just kind of kept talking more and more after that. More than we had before. Now we email every morning, he makes sure to email me to say good night…”  
  
The drinks came over, just as Leyah trailed off, and both of them reached for the glasses and drank, as Varric was the first to speak after the short silence. “So, you’re dating someone, but you’re kind of into this email guy, and you’re most likely really into him. Is this what you’re getting at?”  
  
She nodded, “Yeah. Cullen also told me he loved me, and my reaction was to run the other way. Well, more specifically I ran to my computer and emailed him.”  
  
“You don’t have any name? At all?”  
  
“Just his username? It’s Dread Wolf.”  
  
Varric raised an eyebrow at this but when she looked at him with confusion, he just shrugged, “Strange name for a username. What exactly makes a wolf ‘dread’? Or dreadful? It’s odd.” He took another drink. “But okay. Instead of telling your _boyfriend_ that you love him, you went to talk to this wolf guy? Honestly, Lei, I think you got yourself quite the situation here. Where is the perfect prince charming right now anyway? I didn’t see him at Chargers last night.”  
  
“He went home for the holidays, he won’t be back until the week after the new year. He wanted me to come, but I couldn’t. Work.”  
  
Varric raised his eyebrow towards her, and she stuttered on her words, “Okay, and maybe I recently told Dread Wolf that I was thinking what it would have been like to meet him, so sue me. I’m a bad person. Am I a bad person?”  
  
“You’re not a bad person. But are you happy? Because that grin has only been towards your phone lately, and I haven’t seen you grin like that towards Cullen for a while.” He shrugged, “You should be happy.”  
  
“Yeah, I know, I just--” Leyah started, but was interrupted by her phone going off, and she pulled out her phone, and laughed, “Not _him_ , it’s Bull. I should take this though.” She said, apologetic, as Varric stood up and took out his wallet, throwing money on the bar.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll come to the bar tonight, alright? Gotta get home and wrap these gifts, hopefully she’ll like them.” He said with a grin, as he picked up the bag of gifts and she laughed.  
  
“As long as you’re not reading a erotic story to her outloud in a crowded bar, I think she’ll be just fine.” The two of them hugged goodbye and spoke quickly about his New Year’s Eve party he was throwing in a few short days, and Leyah promised (for the eighth time) that she’d be there with bells on.  
  
As the two parted ways, Varric waited until he was a good distance away from the bar and from Leyah before he took out his phone and dialed a number. He waited until he got the voicemail of the person he was trying to call, and sighed. He hated voicemails. Hell, he hated phones. But, it was the best way to contact people. Faster than a written letter at least.  
  
“Chuckles, there is something I need to talk to you about, so you should call me back as soon as possible.”  
  
Well. This was interesting.  
  


******

  
  
“So I convinced Josie that we’d be much better off if we decided to--”  
  
He wasn’t paying attention, he was staring at his email. More specifically, reading one line over and over _Maybe one day, we can meet, and I can see just how close my image of you was._ Did she really want to meet him? Of course he had thought about it. He thought about it of course, but actually meeting her? Was that something even possible? There would have to be a lot of considerations to make, he hadn’t been on an actual date in years and...  
  
“Hello? Solas? Are you even _listening_?”  
  
Solas looked over to Dorian from his side of the desk, his chin in his hand, having been lost in thought before and soon was meeting Dorian’s annoyed glare. “No, I wasn’t.” Solas ended up admitting, because there was no point in creating a lie. Not that he listened to most of the stories that Dorian ended up telling; there was very little point in office gossip, though he did have to note that Dorian _was_ one of few friends he actually had. So maybe he needed to pay attention more.  
  
Or maybe he shouldn’t have been too distracted by an email from a certain woman who wouldn’t leave his mind. A woman he didn’t even know, but _wanted_ to know. Complicated didn’t begin to cut it.  
  
“Well, like I was _saying_ ,” Dorian said with a scowl, though it didn’t last long, and Solas sighed as he leaned back in his chair, resting his left ankle over his right knee. “Since Josie is _devastated_ that you and I are not going to the museum’s holiday gala, I convinced her to bring that dashing fiance of hers to Chargers tonight for our own little holiday party.”  
  
“Ah, a good choice then. Have a good time,” Solas said absentmindedly, wanting Dorian to leave so that he could get to responding to the email, it had been hours already and he didn’t want her to think he was offended by her suggestion.  
  
“Oh no, you’re coming with me.” Dorian said smugly, and crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
“Out of the question.”  
  
“Nope, you have said no to this every year, and Josie is starting to think you hate her! Maker, if I didn’t know you, I’d think you thought the same of _me_!” Dorian huffed, “You’re coming out, and you’ll be just fine. We’re heading out after work.”  
  
Solas started to protest, as Dorian stood up and walked over to where Solas’ coat was hanging on the door and went into one of the pickets, pulling out Solas’ keys. “And so I know you’ll come out with us, I’m holding onto these keys until you have come to Chargers, had a few drinks, maybe chat up a blushing lass or two, and _then_ you can go.” Dorian waved with a grin and disappeared from Solas’ office, shutting the door behind him.  
  
Once he was alone, Solas shifted on his seat, both feet now planted firmly on the ground as he contemplated his options. It seemed like he was stuck with going out with Dorian tonight, though even he could admit that he could admire the way that his friend decided to trick him. It wasn’t often that people could corner him into doing something, so he’d give Dorian the chance. It could be fun, he did owe Josie more of an explanation as to why he was avoiding her (though the main reason was that he was tired of her trying to set him up with all of her single friends) , and he could use a good drink or two.  
  
He had never been to Chargers either, though Dorian talked about it a lot. Something about...some owner or something? Solas was never really listening about that. People and their personal lives were their own.  
  
Just like his was _his_ own, and right now he had an email to answer. An email that dropped a hint of wanting to meet him, after eight months of emails back and forth, of him hitting on her and seeing if she’d reciprocate. He felt far more comfortable flirting via email, rather than in person. Would meeting her make everything change? Would he strike out completely? It had honestly been years since he had met anyone interesting, but in the strangest way, his ‘Inquisitor’ woke something up in him that had laid dormant for years.  
  
It felt good to feel that again. To feel _alive_.  
  
He knew how to answer her now.  
  


> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: About your ‘proposal’  
>  Time: 4:04 PM
> 
> Apologies for the ‘official sounding’ email subject, I’m writing you from my place of business, and I suppose I need to pretend like I am trying to get some amount of work done. Though, I will be honest, I’ve been distracted. I’ve been trying to think of how to answer your email since I got it this morning, and then I was distracted from my distraction.
> 
> Do you know how frustrating that can get? Sometimes I just want to take a month long vacation from everything, and do all the things that I want to do. Read. Paint. Perhaps meet you for coffee and spend all day taking with you, not realizing where the time went, and soon we’d laugh that it was closer to dinner than it was to lunch. Conversation would move to dinner, where we’d share a bottle of wine, and I’d ask you about what you really want in life. What really would make you happy.
> 
> So, I think it would be good for us to meet. It’s the end of the year, and I’m feeling a bit ‘adventurous’.
> 
> I’m up for it if you are. What do you say?

  
  
He hit send, and glanced at the clock. One hour to kill before he was dragged off to the bar with Dorian and Josie, and he still hadn’t finished reviewing the paperwork on the ancient Elven artifact that had just come in the day before. But all he could think about was the future and not the ancient history he usually found himself so fascinated in. This could be bad. This could be _very_ bad, but maybe he owed himself to do a _good_ bad thing.  
  


******

  
  
An hour later, Solas found himself walking into Chargers with Dorian practically dragging him, and Solas was already trying to find a way to grab his keys out of Dorian’s grasp. His phone had been silent since the email was sent out, and he was finding himself more nervous than he wanted to admit -- what if his suggestion was denied? But he couldn’t let himself focus on that, because he didn’t want anyone to catch onto his distracted demeanor. It was bad enough that Dorian had caught him lost in thought at work. But outside of work? Well that could be embarrassing.  
  
As they walked into Chargers, and Dorian mentioned them just getting a seat at the already crowded bar, Solas’ phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced up slightly, as he walked past the people in the bar, weaving in and out as he did his best to follow Dorian as he looked at his phone. Not an email, but a missed call from Varric. As he reached the bar, he took his seat and with a furrowed brow, he called up his voice mail, as the female bartender came over. He heard Dorian order beers for them and was chatting with the bartender, while Solas turned to the side to listen to the voicemail.  
  
_“Chuckles, there is something I need to talk to you about, so you should call me back as soon as possible.”_  
  
Rather annoying nickname aside, something didn’t sound right. Though, Varric’s voice had a tone of amusement more than anything. As the voicemail ended, he turned back in his seat to face the bar, about to make the return call to Varric when he felt Dorian’s hand on his shoulder.  
  
“Oh no, you put that phone away. You’re going to drink and you’re going to have a good time, okay? Don’t forget… _I have your keys_.” The other man said with a devious grin and an eyebrow wiggle that made Solas’ eyes roll. Though, there was a smirk there too from Solas, so Dorian seemed to take that as a win.  
  
The bartender came back over, and put the beers in front of Dorian, and Solas finally looked up to see who she was. Long black hair pulled into a ponytail, bright green eyes, and a bit of a mischievous smirk. “Dorian, did you mean to order this man the strongest drink we have?” The woman asked, and Dorian laughed, “He wasn’t paying attention! It’s what he gets, everyone knows you have to pay attention when drinks are ordered.”  
  
“Apparently, I do not know this at all,” Solas said with amusement, looking to the bartender and looking to Dorian. He didn’t look at the drink, he could already tell how strong it was, “In case this is too disgusting, could I also trouble you for a pale ale?” He asked, and she smiled back and nodded.  
  
“Of course, lethal'lin,” She said, and it felt strange how that word seemed to tug at his heart. Not that he hadn’t heard it before, of course, it was bound to happen given the circumstances. “I’ll make sure you get the most _girly_ beer that we have,” She continued, and Solas pretended to be offended, but only got so far with the smirk playing on his features.  
  
“Leyah!” Dorian laughed, “Be nice to my friend!” Though even though he protested the bartender’s teasing, Solas knew Dorian was enjoying it. “Leyah, this is Solas. He’s a stubborn pain in the ass, and I think you’ve heard me talking about him before.”  
  
“Oh, so you’re _that_ Solas!” Leyah said, as she leaned on the bar a bit, her hands resting on the countertop, and Solas couldn’t help but look her over in amusement and in curiousity. “I’ve heard a lot about how you refuse to come out with my roommate, so I’m glad you finally gave into him. You know, he’s a very hard guy to get rid of, very _annoying_ ,” Leyah said with a grin, and Solas watched as she turned to Dorian and winked.  
  
“How long have you two known each other?” Solas asked, as he picked up the beer that Dorian had ordered him and took a sip. His disgusted face he made after caused Dorian to laugh hard, and the bartender just smirked.  
  
“Give that one the old college try, and then I’ll get you the other beer, I’ll even pour you my personal favorite.” She said, as she wiped down the counter top and went to help other customers. Dorian was left to answer Solas’ question.  
  
“I’ve known _Sassy_ over there for years. She’s my roommate actually. Yeah, I know, most people my age live alone, but honestly? She keeps me sane, and she’s a sister to me. _Be nice, Solas_ ,” Dorian said as he took a drink from his beer and made a similarly disgusted face to what Solas had made. “Maker, this is _terrible_!” Soon he was raising his voice to get the attention of the bartender, “Leyah, what the hell is this!?”  
  
Leyah’s laughing was heard from the other side of the bar, and Solas couldn’t help but hope that when he met his Inquisitor, her laugh would sound as wonderful as Leyah’s did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I posted a little early, enjoy! And as of today, I'm already starting on chapter 9, so you guys have a lot to come from me! 
> 
> Also as a note - while this is inspired by You've Got Mail, this won't really follow that movie's plot at all (though it might have some similarities), just to let you know! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and feel free to reach me on tumblr (same username as this) if you want to ask any questions :)


	4. Chapter 4

Light shining through the blinds caught on Solas’ face and he tried to hide from the sun but it didn’t work. The moment he started to wake up was the moment his giant headache started to form. The night before was blurry, but he got some pieces figured out. Very slowly, he shifted to sit up, pushing himself to his headboard, the sheets pooling around his waist. Blinking a few times, he managed to get his eyes to focus in the room he was in.  
  
Large comfortable bed. Desk in the corner, covered with books, papers, and various trinkets. Paintings hanging on the wall. A dresser in the corner.  
  
Okay, this was his room. So, he managed to make it home and in once piece, meaning he got his keys back from Dorian at some point during the night. That was a plus.  
  
So what else happened? He shifted to slide to the edge of the bed, thankful that he found himself _alone_ in his bedroom (he was never one for drunken escapades and certainly didn’t want to start now) and let his legs hang off the bed. He placed his hand to his forehead, again groaning in pain at the throbbing headache he was getting. He’d need to shower. Get his sunglasses and head out to get coffee.  
  
Maybe not in that order.  
  
Wait, no, _definitely_ in that order. He was way too old (ish) to be drinking like that, and he was going to make sure he had a strong talk with Dorian after. Which, he was sure the conversation would go in one ear and out the other, and he could see the other man only being smug at the fact that he actually got Solas to go out at all.  
  
After a few moments of sitting and hoping that maybe the headache would disappear (it didn’t), he shuffled off to the adjoining bathroom and showered, lingering perhaps a bit longer than he intended due to his own grogginess. He got out, he dried off, he dressed plainly, grabbed his sunglasses and opened the door to his bedroom.  
  
As he made it down the hall towards his living room, he froze at the entrance as he raised an eyebrow to what he saw.  
  
It appeared that for _some reason_ he had thought it was a good idea to let people come over after drinking at Chargers. When did he decide that? He couldn’t remember anything after that first awful drink that he managed to drink all of - did he seriously blackout after that? He could remember laughing, and he remembered the pretty bartender --  
  
\--- who was apparently walking towards him now with a bottle of advil in her hand, smiling at him.  
  
_What?_  
  
“Hey! Great time last night,” She laughed, “As uh, I’m sure you can tell.” She gestured towards the living room, where Dorian was passed out on the couch with his legs hanging off it, Bull sleeping sitting on the floor, his back to Dorian, and his horns resting almost _tenderly_ next to Dorian’s cheek. One of the horns had a t-shirt hanging off of it, and a necklace. On the other couch, Josie (when did she come out to meet them) was sleeping curled into a little ball, hugging one of Solas’ throw pillows. There were cards all over the floor, bottles of beer and wine scattered, and a pizza box with a half eaten pizza on the table.  
  
It was a horrific sight and Solas felt like he was going to throw up.  
  
“Oh come on, it’s not _That_ bad! When is the last time you had a party with friends?” The woman said, as she seemed to catch onto Solas’ horrified look and he blinked and looked to her.  
  
“Truth be told, I can’t remember,” He said with a shrug, as he finally took the bottle of advil from her, and set it to the side. “I prefer the natural method,” He said when she looked at him questioningly.  
  
She raised her eyebrow, “The sleep it off method?”  
  
At the word ‘sleep’, there was a groggy groan from Dorian on the couch, “Hard to sleep if you guys don’t shut the fuck up,” he was muttering, as he shifted to sit up, and gently pushed Bull’s horns away from him, causing Bull to just fall to the floor in a heap. For a moment, Solas froze, thinking something had happened to Bull, but then a loud snore came from the man on the floor.  
  
“All the time with the snoring! It’s _horrible_ ,” Dorian said, finally sitting up, and he looked over to Solas and Leyah, and immediately grinned. “You two were quite the pals last night!” He gestured between the two of them, and Solas felt his skin heat up.  
  
Leyah laughed, “Dorian, hush, stop trying to cause him to die of a heart attack, I think the state of his apartment is doing that already.”  
  
“I’d say that’s pretty accurate,” Solas joined in, and Dorian rolled his eyes.  
  
“Oh hush. I’ll wake Josie and we’ll get this cleaned up in no time, like we were never here. You two go get us coffee.” He waved off, as he stood up and walked over Bull, taking the shirt off Bull’s horns and pulled it on. Ah, so that’s who's shirt that was. “Leyah, you know my order. Josie is...particular, so when I get her up and talking I’ll text you what she wants. What do you think Bull wants?”  
  
“Something strong?” Leyah asked, and there was an amused look to her face after, “I’ll figure something out.” She looked to Solas, “How close is the nearest coffee shop?”  
  
“About a block or--”  
  
“ _Closest_? No, you two have a lot to talk about, just go to the furthest one away!” Dorian smirked, “Gives me more time to clean this place up too.”  
  
Solas thought he would be the only one panicking on what Dorian was talking about, but the look on Leyah’s face told him otherwise. She protested, and Solas couldn’t blame her, “Dorian, I --” She had started, and lifted up her phone as if to tell him something, and he waved her off.  
  
“Your Dread Wolf can wait, Leyah! Coffee! Go! Now!” Dorian laughed, Leyah appeared to be _blushing_ , and Solas was wondering if he heard that correctly.  
  
Her _what_?  
  
Solas hid his confusion and surprise the best that he could, as he gestured towards the door, “I know a place that serves fantastic coffee. Good food too. Since I’m getting kicked out of my own apartment, I suppose that it better be for good coffee.” He smiled towards Leyah, and she seemed to smile back, and she left the apartment before he did.  
  
He shut the door behind them and locked it, heading out with her to get coffee.  
  


******

  
  
It was a few minutes of idle conversation, of commenting about the weather and what they did for jobs before Solas worked up the nerve to ask slightly more personal questions. They were still a block or two away from the coffee shop he had in mind, and she seemed to be happy for the distraction of normal conversation. “What do you think Dorian meant when he said we had a lot to talk about?”  
  
Leyah laughed, moving her hair from her left side, and pulling it up into a ponytail, using the elastic around her wrist to secure it. “Well how much do you remember of last night?”  
  
“I remember that horrible drink?”  
  
“Let me guess, that’s all you remember?”  
  
Solas looked at her with a shrug.  
  
“Then that’s what he meant! I didn’t get to join you guys and drink with you until my shift was over, but did you know you’re a good singer?”  
  
“ _What_.” Solas looked at her confused, as he tried so hard to remember what happened, if he knew what she… “Wait, was there karaoke?”  
  
“ _Oh_ yeah, there was! Though, I seriously question your taste in music. Barry Manilow? Really, Solas? You’re not _that_ old are you?”  
  
“Hey! He has some good songs! Though...I am a little embarrassed to know that’s what I apparently picked…”  
  
“Well it was between that and I think...a Britney Spears song? Dorian _really_ wanted you to sing ‘Toxic’, and Josie thought it’d be funny for you to try ‘Womanizer’.” Leyah told him with a sly smirk, and Solas found he couldn’t tell if she was actually telling him the truth or not. Which was amusing and frustrating all in one go.  
  
“You can’t be serious.”  
  
“Deadly,” Leyah laughed, as she pulled out her phone and they both stopped on the sidewalk as she pulled up a video of him singing karaoke. She was leaning into him slightly as she played the video, and he was looking over her shoulder, and for a moment he felt it was very intimate for someone he just met.  
  
Or maybe, if she was who he thought she might be, maybe they weren’t such new acquaintances after all.  
  
As the video ended, she was giggling and he was trying his best not to laugh, but failing. “I’m assuming you’re going to be holding onto that for dear life now, hmm?”  
  
“Oh, absolutely. Blackmail, all of that. A girl has to have that, you know.” She teased, as they started to walk again towards the coffee shop, it now in view. “But I meant what I said though. You have a nice voice. I bet you get all the attention at karaoke nights, I bet you go out regularly.” She said, as they crossed the street and went for the coffee shop entrance.  
  
Solas couldn’t help but laugh, “You couldn’t be more wrong. I have a tendency to keep to myself. I’ve been alone for so long that it’s just _easier_.”  
  
She nodded, as they reached the door, and Solas opened it, holding it open for her, “Yeah, I know. You should get out more though, you’re fun.” She said with a smile, and he looked at her with amusement as he let the door go and followed her into the shop.  
  
“I’m _fun_? Don’t let Dorian hear you say that, he’ll tell you a list of reasons why you’re wrong.”  
  
“He’s actually the one who said it first, last night.”  
  
“What?” So he was apparently learning a lot of new things today, and that was completely unexpected.  
  
There wasn’t a chance to continue that conversation, as they reached the counter and ordered their coffee. Leyah had looked to Solas for a suggestion of what she should have, so he ordered for both of them and she pulled out her phone to get Josie’s order texted to her, and then gave off Bull and Dorian orders. Solas ordered a few muffins and once they had everything, they decided to sit outside and talk a little longer.  
  
It was Solas’ suggestion, to ‘give them more time to clean up the disaster they made’ back at his apartment, but really it was for another reason. As they sat down, Leyah seemed to be checking her phone, and the look on her face was one of contemplation. “Everything alright?” He asked, as she looked up and a pink color appeared on her cheeks.  
  
“Huh? Oh yeah, I was just checking my emails, I have one I have to answer, I meant to last night, and well, I got distracted hanging out with you guys.”  
  
“Well, don’t let me stop you from answering an email, I’m someone who works all the time as well.” He said, as he slipped his hand into his pocket and hit the switch on his phone to turn it to silent, in the off chance that she _was_ who he thought and she happened to email him while he was sitting across from her.  
  
“Oh, it’s not work! It’s personal, it’s just someone that I’ve been talking to for a few months…”  
  
“Oh?” He asked, unable to help his curiosity, and the way he seemed to sit up straighter as she spoke. “A boyfriend?” He paused, “Sorry, that was really forward of me, I shouldn’t have--”  
  
“--oh no, no it’s fine!” Leyah laughed, shifting in her seat, her hand around the coffee mug, as she took a drink. “I have a boyfriend but it’s complicated. But that’s not who I’m emailing.” There was a pause on both their sides, as she sighed, “Please don’t think the worst of me?”  
  
“Why would I think the worst of you? You should talk and be with those who make you happy, I will never judge anyone for that.” Okay, maybe that was his wishful thinking talking there, but could he really be blamed for that? He couldn’t get the nerve up to ask about what Dorian had said, how he had mentioned her _Dread Wolf_ and he was curious as to how much Dorian knew of the emails. Or perhaps there was someone else with that online handle he she was talking too. That could also be a possibility, right?  
  
“I don’t know, we just met, and my roommate thinks you need more friends, and maybe I’d like to be one of those new friends. I’m big on first impressions,” She said, with a shrug, and he laughed.  
  
“How are you on second impressions, since I was rather...intoxicated for the first one?” She smiled, “I think this second impression is going pretty well, don’t you?”  
  
_Yeah_ , he thought, _I do think that_.  
  


******

  
  
By the time they returned to the apartment, the coffees were not a burning temperature anymore, Solas’ coffee was mostly gone, and the living room was _mostly_ back to the original way it was the night before. He’d have to push a few things around here and there, but it worked out.  
  
He thanked everyone for their help, they all chatted to put the pieces together of the rest of the night (it seemed he wasn’t the only one who had decided to sing that night) and Solas found himself actually making _plans_ to hang out with everyone again.  
  
It was a nice surprise.  
  
Leyah and Dorian had been the last to leave, and Leyah grinned towards Solas, “So am I going to see you again? Or will Dorian have to drag you out kicking and screaming?”  
  
“Do you see how he’s smiling at you, Lei? I think his days of kicking and screaming are over!” Dorian jumped in, and Solas’ eyes went a little wide, and Leyah laughed and smacked Dorian’s arm.  
  
“Dorian!”  
  
“No, he’s right, it was a pleasure getting to know you. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” He responded in kind, and wasn’t at all surprised when she replied with a confident grin and a “ _Good_.”  
  
A few hours later, once he had managed to get some more sleep, and was relaxing in his living room with a book, his phone went off. Finally, a reply from his Inquisitor. He felt his heart beating hard against his chest in anticipation of what she’d say.  
  
Though, it felt a tad bit silly, if she was Leyah -- it meant he already met her. Though, she didn’t know that.  
  


> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: About your ‘proposal’  
>  Time: 6:50 PM
> 
> I’m so sorry about how late this is! Long night at work, turning into meeting up with friends for drinks, and...well you know how it goes! Have you ever been to Spirit Coffee on 48th? It’s amazing, I went there today with a new friend, and I think I’m going to have to go there again sometime. Fantastic coffee, and a cute little place for conversations…
> 
> Would you want to meet me there? Because you have no idea how badly I’d like to meet you. Coffee is good for a first date, right? Dinner can be the second date. :)
> 
> I’m free tomorrow around 2:00, are you? Are we crazy? Is this crazy? Okay, maybe you shouldn’t answer those questions, but definitely answer the first one. You know, about being free tomorrow around 2 to meet me for coffee.
> 
> So…..?

  
  
Her mention of Spirit Coffee confirmed everything. She _was_ his Inquisitor, and he rested the phone down on his lap as he thought of what to say. He could admit everything right here, that he knew who she was. Or he could play it out differently, try to see if she could be more interested in _him_ and not the online persona he had created for himself. Or he could…  
  
Be interrupted in thought by a text message.  
  


  
_Varric - 6:55_  
Since when do you not return phone calls, Chuckles?  
Leaving me hanging here.

_Solas - 6:55_  
Sorry. Was dragged out for drinks last night, lost track of time.

_Varric - 6:56_  
You? Dragged out for drinks?  
Is the world ending?

_Solas - 6:56_  
Funny.  
What did you want to talk about?

_Varric - 6:57_  
Remember that Fade Match thing I set you up on?  
You haven’t connected with anyone on it, have you?

_Solas - 6:58_  
I have.  
Why?

_Varric - 6:58_  
I think I know who your match is.

_Solas - 6:58_  
I think I know who she is too.

_Varric - 7:00_  
What?!  
How?  
Call me.  
Now.  
Actually, forget that.  
I’m coming over.

  
He’d call Varric after he managed to write back to his Inquisitor, to _Leyah_. He found himself torn with the whole thing. He had longed to meet her since the first few times he had spoken to her, and now that he _knew_ who she was, he found himself conflicted. He wasn’t the confident and well spoken man she knew him to be when they walked this morning for coffee. He sure as hell wasn’t that man last night, when he was apparently intoxicated and warbling out songs that dated him a bit.  
  
Maybe he could just tell her he’d meet, and then decide what to do when he got there. That could work. He was always better at split second decisions, the more time he had to think on something, the more he was capable of making mistakes.  
  
Or was it the other way around? His mind was still so foggy from the night before that he wasn’t thinking clearly. Or at least, he wasn’t thinking clearly about anything other than what his heart wanted.  
  


> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: About your ‘proposal’  
>  Time: 7:25 PM
> 
> I hope you had a good time with friends last night. I found myself distracted too from my normal routine, though I do apologize for not being able to send you my nightly email. So, pretend that I did that, and I think all will be forgiven.
> 
> I do know that place, a friend of mine once told me about it. I think I’ll be free around 2:00 PM tomorrow. How will I know it’s you?

  
  
Her reply was quick, _I’ll have a white daisy in my hair, and I’ll sit out front. Think you’ll be able to spot me?_  
  
He grinned. Yeah, he was pretty sure he’d be able to.  
  
Though now he had to call back Varric, or he’d have an angry friend beating down his door in an hour.  
  
“ _SOLAS, OPEN THE DOOR_!”  
  
Or...he’d have that now.


	5. Chapter 5

> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: About your ‘proposal’  
> Time: 7:47 PM
> 
> A white daisy? I think I’ll be able to spot that.
> 
> Until tomorrow.  
> 

_Until tomorrow_.

She was going to be meeting him _tomorrow_.

She clicked out of his email and got up, finding herself practically dancing around the room in happiness, the first time in a long time she felt something like this.

So, Leyah found herself grinning like a fool, excited and over the moon to finally be meeting a man she had only really been able to imagine. And then, when that excitement wore off, she got nervous. What if he didn’t like her? What if he couldn’t find her? What if he stood her up?

Or the bigger what if: what if he found out she technically still had a boyfriend?

She had never told Dread Wolf of her current relationship status, all he knew was that she had gone on a date before, and he had wished her luck. After the initial ‘how did it go?’ questions, that was it. They never really spoke about it at all, and she never spoke about Cullen to him.

Actually, she never really spoke about Cullen to anyone. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed to be around him, because she wasn’t. He was just so perfect, _too_ perfect, and beautiful, and maybe not meant for her. There was nothing wrong with not being able to connect with someone, right?

Of course, she needed to try to break things off with Cullen, if she ever wanted anything to happen with Dread Wolf. If she even liked him. Which, she hoped she did. She wasn’t the best at meeting new people, but she had seemed to manage pretty well with Solas earlier in the day, and he seemed to be amused by her at least, so she had that going for her. Plus, he had been an attractive man, a little older than she would have expected Dorian and Josie to be friends with, but she supposed you really couldn’t pick your co-workers.

But she had met a new person, attempted to befriend him, and considered the day to be a bit of a success. She wouldn’t have even known about the coffee shop if it wasn’t for Solas in the first place, so she had to thank him for that eventually.

If tomorrow went well. Maker, she hoped tomorrow went well.

Excited, and wanting to keep the conversation going, she opened up her inbox again and clicked on the most recent email, not seeing what it was and sent off a reply, _Yes, until tomorrow! I cannot wait to finally meet you. I can’t even describe how happy this is making me feel._

She closed her email once more and left her phone in her bedroom as she ventured out into the living room to find Dorian. She needed advice.

As she shut the door behind her, her phone, still on silent from earlier in the day, started to light up with a phone call.

******

“Don’t wear the red pants, they make you look desperate. Also really terrible, because why are you still trying to rock red leather pants? You know those went out of style years ago, right?”

“Says the man who had to peel his shirt off my boss’ horns this morning!”

“Yeah, well, the price we pay for… _lust_ or _whatever_.” Dorian scoffed as Leyah laughed, and he felt a pillow come towards his arm. There was no point in ducking, because Dorian learned very quickly that his roommate had amazing aim. If the pillow was a sword, his arm would have been cut right off.

Such pleasant thoughts to think about when he was still trying to get sober from the night before.

Dorian looked over to Leyah with a raised eyebrow and a smirk after the attack of the throw pillow stopped, “You seemed to get along quite well with Solas this morning. And last night. Perhaps you could throw away your dreams of this _Dread Wolf_ and just go meet up with him instead…?” He asked, and laughed again when she glared at him.

She tucked her feet under her on the couch next to him, and leaned an elbow to the edge of the couch, “He seems really nice, and I’d love to get to know him more, but…”

“He’s not mysterious enough for you? Believe me, he’s mysterious. It’s a _mystery_ how he can afford that luxurious apartment on _his_ salary! And you know I’ve been trying to get him to come out for _months_ and he goes out once, meets you, and now he’s ready to meet up with us again! Some mystery indeed.” He shrugged, “You must have something magical in those lips of yours when you--”

“WHAT?” Leyah screamed out in shock, and Dorian laughed hard.

“Kidding! You didn’t do anything! You two were just chatting away in a corner all night, whatever he was saying got you really interested, because you didn’t leave his side once. Not even to get a drink. You made me do that.” He paused, “I’m not your bar wench by the way!”

“I’m yours…”

“Yeah well that’s because it’s your job!”

Another pillow flew at his arm and he tossed it right back to her. There was a comfortable silence between them before Dorian asked about the elephant in the room. “What about Cullen?”

“What about him?” She replied, and her voice went quiet, unsure. She wrapped her arms around her legs and held them close to her, her chin now resting on her knees. “I mean he’s on vacation back home.”

“But you’re still his girlfriend, Lei. You can’t just...go and meet this other man, hoping something might happen with him, while you’re still taken by someone else.” Dorian said, edging closer to her on the couch, knowing this wasn’t an easy topic for her. While he never exactly understood why she was pulling away from Cullen before, once he had read those emails she was sharing, he understood. Even he knew people found love and whatever else they were looking for in unexpected places. Like him with Bull. It was unexpected, and he was enjoying what they were doing, and he was going to keep doing it until it made him not happy. Which, he didn’t see coming any time soon.

But as long as Dorian had known Leyah, she hadn’t seemed that happy to be in a relationship with Cullen. Of course, she was _happy_ , but there was that extra level that he knew wasn’t there. He saw it when she finally talked to him about her secret email lover, _that_ was what had been missing. Her smile seemed brighter, her voice had more excitement to it.

“I know that. I just...I’m really terrible at this type of thing. What do I even say? ‘Hey Cullen, I know you love me and everything and want me to move in, but hey, I want to meet this guy I’ve been talking to online for months to see if something could happen with him. We’re cool, right?’” Leyah sighed, “I mean, how do you even do that?”

Dorian shrugged, “You could start by telling him that you’re on different paths? Look at this week for example. He’s at home right?”

“Yeah, he asked me to go with him to meet his sister.”

“And you said no because…”

“Because I had work.”

“Leyah.”

She sighed heavily. “Because I didn’t want him to think I was getting too committed to him.”

“ _See_? But..also, I’ve always wondered, why haven’t you been okay to be with him? I mean the man is perfect and --”

“That’s kind of the thing. He’s _perfect_ , he owns his own business, he has his whole life mapped out, and it still strikes me as so odd that he needed to go to online dating to find a girlfriend. I mean, granted I know he did it because he was working with Cassandra and she suggested it, but… _come on_. And okay, he’s a little socially awkward…”

“...and stutters over his words sometimes,” Dorian joined in.

“...and doesn’t always know the correct thing to say,” Leyah laughed softly, “He means well. I mean, I can’t find a flaw in him. And maybe perfect just isn’t for me. It’s for his ex-girlfriend, who is very obviously still in love with him. If he’s smart…” She trailed off, shrugging, before picking it back up, “He’ll try again with her. I’ve seen the way she looks at him.”

There was a silence for a moment, Leyah still resting her chin on her knees, as Dorian rested a hand on her shoulder. “This would normally be the time that I suggest we break out a bottle of wine, but considering how much we drank last night, coffee?”

She laughed. “Yeah, coffee. Thanks, Dorian,” she said, shifting her legs so that she could move off the couch, her feet touching the floor and then she stood up to stretch her arms above her head. “I’m gonna go get my phone,” She noted as Dorian got up to go towards their kitchen.

“Checking to see if your _lover_ wrote back?” He teased, as she disappeared down the hallway and opened her bedroom door, grabbing her phone without looking at it and shut the door again.

“I mean should I be asking him what he will be wearing? So I know what to look--” She had been talking, looking at her phone as she made her way back into the living room and froze once she got there. “Uh…”

Dorian, holding two cups of coffee, walked back into the living room, and held out a cup for Leyah. She took it, but she didn’t look up from her phone. “Leyah, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I have fifteen missed calls from Cullen.”

“ _Fifteen_?”

Leyah looked up to Dorian and nodded, as she set the coffee down on the table next to where she stood, and she slid her phone open. There were missed calls, voicemails, and text messages. One in particular, a text message, stood out.

  
_Cullen - 9:23 PM_  
Who are you meeting?  
Leyah, you need to call me. Please.

Her eyes went wide as she quickly searched her emails to find that the email she thought she had replied to, the one from Dread Wolf, wasn’t that at all. It was an email Cullen had sent, about his trip home, and that he had something he had to tell her. And she had replied with _I can’t wait to finally meet you_.

Oh fuck.

She quickly told Dorian what happened, and he gasped, and pushed her towards her bedroom, “You need to fix this, if you guys are even going to be friends after all of this.”

Leyah agreed of course, but she couldn’t bring herself to voice it. Shit. Just because she was having doubts didn’t mean she wanted to lose Cullen in all capacity, and with one little mistake, she might have ruined even a chance of having a friendship after this.

  
_Leyah - 11:45 PM_  
Sorry, phone was in the other room while I was talking with Dorian.  
I’ll call now. Are you up?

_Cullen - 11:45 PM_  
Yes. 

That was it, just his answer, his one word answer, and she knew she fucked up bad. Biting her lip, she picked up her coffee from Dorian off the table and headed into her bedroom and shut the door behind her.

It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, we got some drama coming up ;)


	6. Chapter 6

She was right.

It _was_ a long night.

Once she had managed to get into her bedroom, she called Cullen, who answered but was silent for a moment before he hung up. About to call him back, she had a ping on her computer, and saw it was a video chat. Because apparently this was something he wanted to talk to her about face to face.

Which...well _shit_. That wasn’t the way she wanted to do this. She was hoping she could hide behind her voice only, though she knew it would betray her when she tried to lie or be strong. Now he’d be able to see everything, her reactions, and her inability to lie to him.

“Hi.” She managed to get out, as she settled in front of the computer, turning on her desk light to bring better light to the room, so that Cullen could see her better. He was in what looked like a bedroom, soft light but there was enough so she could see him. There was a sound of a fire crackling in the back.

He didn’t say anything back at first, and the silence between them was deafening. It felt like it went on for hours, when it only went on for about a minute or so. Cullen managed to find his words, “I wasn’t supposed to get that email, was I.” He said it as a statement, not a question. There was a hurt in his tone, but it wasn’t as much as Leyah had expected. It sounded more like a disappointment. Maybe that hurt more.

“No, you weren’t.” She admitted, deciding there was no point in lying, there was no point in hiding things. How could she? He had seen the email, he had called her. He had texted. He had questioned. And now she was doing her best to be honest.

Maker, she wished Dorian was here with her right now. Or even Josie. Or hell, even Varric, because he’d be making faces at her and getting her to laugh the whole time. Try to lighten the mood. But she had to do this.

“Who is he?” Cullen asked, and on the screen he had his arms crossed on the desk, staring at the screen, but not looking at the camera. Which, wasn’t surprising, but it somehow made his question seem worse.

“Someone I met through an online dating site.”

“Like the one we used?”

“Different, but yeah.” She waited for more questions, but started to ramble. She told him about how the site worked, how it wasn’t a profile but an anonymous match, how they had started to talk. She left out the when. He caught onto that.

“How long?”

There was a long pause, “Before I tell you, you have to know that I was just looking around when I met you, I hadn’t expected anything.”

Cullen nodded, “Ah, well when I...uh, joined the site I had a few...admirers too. I understand. That’s not what I’m upset about.”

“I...had a feeling.” She said softly, and she looked down at her hands in her lap, even though she knew he couldn’t see that from the screen. “I haven’t cheated on you, Cullen. I wasn’t going to.”

“Then why send that….it sounded like you were planning on having a go of it, Leyah.”

“I’m meeting him for the first time tomorrow, in a public place, over coffee! If anything, he could be just a good friend.”

“A good friend you might want more from?” There was the questioning tone, there was the slight hurt. She took a long time to reply, weighing her words.

She decided maybe simple and to the point was the best case here, so she just nodded, and said “Yes”.

There was a long pause. Longer than before, definitely longer than a minute. She knew she hadn’t cheated on Cullen, and he knew that too, but she wasn’t sure he believed her. She wasn’t even sure if she fully believed it either, because emotionally, maybe she had. She shared more of herself with Dread Wolf than anyone else and that had to say something. It _did_ say something.

It told her that she needed to take the chance. She wanted to take the chance. And Cullen, he deserved better than that. It was her turn to break the silence this time, “I’m sorry if I hurt you. I know I’ve been..distant for a while, and I know you want the world of me, and I don’t know if I can give that to you.”

She watched the screen as he ran a hand through his hair and then rested it on the back on his neck, like she had seen him do countless times. Usually though, there was a _look_ that went with the action, a devious but sweet one, but now it was just exhaustion and disappointment.

Or so she thought.

“I have something I need to tell you,” He said, and now it was her turn to get worried, to get scared. Did she even have a right to feel that way? Something in her told her that she didn’t, but dammit if she wasn’t hypocritical sometimes.

Cullen didn’t wait to hear her ask him what it was, he just came out with it: “Ellana is here.”

“ _Here_? As in at your sister’s house?” She asked, surprised and honestly not sure what the correct thing to think was. She should be feeling anger, right?

“Yes. She, uh, came to see me, she wanted to tell me that she --”

“--is still in love with you.” Leyah said, finishing his sentence, and he looked surprised. Even more so when she smiled at the realization. Maybe this was the right path they were supposed to be on. Maybe this didn’t have to be messy.

“How did you know?”

“I’ve known. It’s obvious in how she looks at you, Cullen. And...I think you might still be in love with her too,” She said, though she made sure not to make it sound accusatory, but more of a friend speaking to a friend. Maybe that was all they ever really were to each other. Even though he had said he loved her, she had a feeling she might just be a replacement for what he had lost in one way or the other. “And I’m happy for you, Cullen. Honestly, I really am.”

Once again, a silence came between them, and for a long moment, Leyah didn’t know if it was because they wanted to remain silent, or if it was because her internet died. But she could see Cullen moving on the other side of the screen, she could see him trying to think of what to say. Of what to do. They both seemed to be in the same situation; though his situation was a little more _real_ than hers was. Tomorrow seemed so far away now, though if she was being technical, it was today, considering it was well past midnight.

“So what do we do now?” Was what broke the silence, but they both ended up saying it at the same time. That caused them to laugh a little, but there was a sadness there. She wasn’t sure what Cullen was feeling, but she felt bad that she never really seemed to give him a good shot. That she never really seemed to give _them_ a good shot. It was part of who she was when she was in relationships though, she was bad at them, so that when she started them, she immediately thought of ways they might fail. She had tried with Cullen at least, for a little while. But she hadn’t tried hard enough.

When the sad laughter died down, she spoke, “Well, I think we see if we can be friends. Stay in each other’s lives that way. And you see where things can go with Ellana, if you want that again.”

“I’m not sure that I do, but it’s...work the exploration, I think,” came his reply, and he sighed. The sound came through her speakers as he did so, and it felt like a weight was resting on her heart. “I did love you, you know.” He said, and she understood why the weight was there.

“I know you did. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We...maybe we weren’t meant to be. Or maybe we…”

“Cullen, let’s just focus on our friendship. Not what might have been or what we should have done.” She said, and he nodded, and they fell into another silence. It was then that she realized that was what most of their relationship was, awkward silences, trying to think of what to say. “I just want you to be happy, okay?” She finally said, and he gave her a small smile.

“I want the same for you. You know that, right?”

“I do.”

“Enjoy the rest of the year.”

“Are you planning on staying there until the new year?”

“Yes,” He nodded, and looked off to the side of the screen, and smiled before looking at the screen again. “I think I should…”

At the same time they both said “go,” and there was the small chuckle again. They said their goodbyes and then the video chat went black.

Leyah sat in the silence, staring at her screen, inhaling and exhaling slowly. She was never one for confrontation, and her accidental email to Cullen changed things. So then, she wondered, what would have happened if she never sent the email? Would they both eventually have cheated on each other? Would they have just pretended to be happy, for trying not to hurt the other person? She didn’t know. She didn’t know if she _wanted_ to know. This way, she was able to save a friendship. She managed to save a little of her dignity as well.

But was she putting all her eggs into one basket? She didn’t know what Dread Wolf looked like, what he sounded like, how he walked, or any of that. She had no idea if they would get along. She didn’t even know if he’d want to start a relationship with her. Wasn’t it presumptuous of her to assume that? If her meeting with him tomorrow didn’t work, if they didn’t get along, then she was left alone.

Being alone was her greatest fear, despite everything she had done in the complete opposite in her life. She was horrible in relationships, but ultimately did enjoy them. It was why she opted to live with Dorian at her age, rather than live alone. She needed someone around to keep her grounded. She needed someone around to keep her connected to the world outside of her day to day.

There was a light knock on her door, and it opened slowly, Dorian poking his head in to see if Leyah was okay. She gestured for him to come in, and he did, sitting on the edge of her bed. “How did it go?” He asked, “I didn’t hear yelling at least, so that must be a good sign, right?”

Leyah turned around in her chair and ran her hand through her hair, her hand coming to rest at the ends, as she twisted the hair between her fingers. “We broke up, which, is a good thing. You know? But I also feel kind of sad about it. Like we were both just leading each other on. Or, maybe more me than him.”

Dorian shrugged, “That’s just the way it works sometimes, I think. You win some, you lose some, you try to do what is right by _you_ and it ends up hurting someone else in the process. I speak from experience.” There was a tone in his voice, in his words, that spoke of something that Leyah didn’t know about, but maybe right now wasn’t the time to ask. “So, what are you going to do now?”

“Now?” Her hand dropped from playing with her hair, “Now I think I’m going to try to get some sleep, so I can wake up tomorrow, freak out about my coffee date, and try to move forward.” She said with a small smile, and Dorian nodded. He stood up from where he was sitting and when he walked past her, he patted her shoulder.

“I promise tomorrow you can freak out at me all you want while you’re getting ready. I won’t even tease you. _Much_ ,” he said with a smile, and when he managed to get her to chuckle, he considered it a win. “Night, Leyah.”

“Night, Dorian.”

She watched as he closed the door behind her and she moved from her chair directly into her bed, getting under the covers and not think about what had happened that night. She took her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through her emails, deleting all of them minus the most recent one Dread Wolf.

_Until tomorrow_.

For the first time in a long time, Leyah was looking forward to what the future would hold. Feeling as though the weight that was on her was lifted a little, she finally managed to get to sleep just as the sun started to wake up.


	7. Chapter 7

_Today_.

Today he was going to meet her. Or re-meet her, since he already knew exactly who she was. The fact that she was the roommate of his co-worker, made him realize what a small world it was.

He’d be ‘getting ready’ (or mostly, well, sleeping) _but_ it was one in the morning, and he had a very amused man in his apartment, staring at him over a glass of beer. Varric had come knocking on his door at about seven at night the day before, and here it was, past one in the morning and he was still here.

Still here because Varric loved a good story, and apparently _this_ was a fantastic story. He couldn’t blame Varric, because if Solas had been told the story, he might not have believed it at first. Even though he was one who was more prone to believing the mostly unbelievable, but that most likely came from his personal history. The unbelievable and the impossible were just daily things for him.

Of course, that wasn’t a known fact to anyone he had made friends with here since moving two years ago. Something about putting the past behind him, but when his life and work was surrounded by history, it was hard to do that. It was even harder to focus on the present, because all he could see was what had taken shape to get him there. His past choices, his past mistakes, anything and everything in between.

Would Leyah actually be okay with his history, if he ever told her? Would she be able to get past some of his mistakes? Would she be able to see him for who he was as a whole, and not as separate entities of her ‘Dread Wolf’ and her new friend Solas?

It was easy to get lost in thought, and that was exactly what was happening now. He was brought back to the present, shaken out of his thoughts by a hand waving in front of him to get his attention.

Ah, so Varric was still here. Interesting.

“When you have kids, you’ll have to name the first one after me, you know, since I set you up.” He teased once he got Solas’ attention, and he dropped his hand to the counter with a somehow excited ‘slap’ and Solas rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“What, don’t see yourself as the fathering type?”

“ _Varric_ ,” Solas narrowed his eyes at Varric, which only made the other man laugh harder, amused at the whole situation. “You’re not helping.”

“Come on, Chuckles, this is a _good_ situation here. I know she’s a good person, she’s one of my most trusted people. If I had known you two would have hit it off, I would have just introduced you both myself. Instead of going through all that online shit.”

Well, there was a point to be made there. Surely connecting in person was far better than an online persona, right? Though he had been more adventurous this way. He had been more willing to enjoy the conversations, to take in everything she was saying. There were no distractions. There was nothing else tempting to steal him away. There was only her words and nothing else. He enjoyed that.

Though, now that he knew who his Inquisitor was, he supposed meeting her in person first also couldn’t have been so bad. He could impress her with his knowledge of the history of the city, he could show her his paintings --

“Are you just going to stare off into the void, or are you going to talk to me?”

Solas looked to Varric, rolling his eyes to feign annoyance, “You’re still here?”

This got him a grin and a laugh. “So are you planning on telling her who you are? You’re going to see her in person right?”

“Tomorrow. Or, today, rather.”

“Today? Where?”

“Spirit Coffee. We went there yesterday morning together. She’s the one who suggested it.”

There was a contemplative look on Varric’s face and Solas immediately felt like there was something he was missing. That couldn’t be the case, he knew exactly what he was getting himself into. Though, he took the bait: “What?”

“A little close to home, don’t you think? Why didn’t you suggest another place?”

“Because I didn’t want to?”

“Are you going to be honest with her? Tell her that it’s you?”

“I--” Solas started, and paused and that pause was long enough for Varric to give out a frustrated groan.

“Andraste’s tits, Chuckles, whatever you're thinking, it better be ‘I’m going to be honest with her’.”

Solas didn’t say anything, and there was a beat before he just smirked towards him, “Nothing is going to happen at all if you don’t get the hell out of my apartment so I can get some sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m onto you.” Varric waved off, getting up and draining the rest of his glass and set it down on Solas’ table. “I’ll talk to you later, and let’s not conveniently forget to call me back this time, alright?”

Solas shook his head in an amused manner, a light chuckle escaping him and waved Varric off. The other man let himself out of the apartment, and when he heard the door shut, Solas got up and moved to the door, locking it shut.

There was a lot he had to think about. There was a lot he had to weigh.

He walked away from his door once it had been locked, and headed in towards the kitchen, looking for something else to occupy himself. His eyes fell on a tin of tea, but he pushed it to the side, and ultimately opted on nothing at all, as he walked out of the kitchen and towards his home office.

The office was decorated in earthy tones, with pieces of history scattered throughout the room. A desk sat in the middle of the room with a single lamp on it, and a laptop sitting closed in the center. Behind the rather large burgundy leather chair was a row of paintings he had done years ago, and various relics he had collected through the years while he traveled. He had never stayed in one place long enough before, preferring to view the world as a whole (or as much as he could) instead of getting stuck with one way of looking at things.

There was a lot to say about the history of places, and he always felt more comfortable researching that than dealing with what was in front of him.

Maybe that was why seeing Leyah tomorrow seemed to scare him. Or at least give him pause.

He took a seat at his desk, opening up his laptop, and for once opted against checking his email. Instead he opened up a new document, and created a list.

_Pros and Cons to admitting the truth_. There was nothing wrong with a list, of looking at the consequences to both, right?  
He tapped his fingers on the keys, not pressing down hard enough to get a letter or two yet as he thought. Then he started typing:

 

  * Continuing conversations outside of emails, and getting to see her actual reaction other than imagining it. - Pro.
  * She could view the truth as a bit of a lie, I could have told her at the first chance I found out. - Con
  * Any logical person would need time to think on things, so holding back the truth isn’t a bad thing. - Pro. Or is this a Con? Or is it both? Both. We’ll say both.



 

The list went on like that for a while. One pro, one con, something that fit both. One pro, one con, something that could fit most. By the time he exhausted all his options, all his ideas, the list was evenly tied on all three parts.

 

Which, of course, did not help ease his mind at all. And now that it was closer to 4 in the morning, he needed to get sleep if he was going to be alright to see Leyah later in the afternoon.

 

He spent another thirty minutes or so going over emails from work - because you could take the man out of his place of business physically, but workaholics never really stopped working - before he retreated into his bedroom, stripped down and got into bed.

 

Sleep came as soon as his head hit the pillow, and dreams were filled with different outcomes of what would happen if he revealed himself, and if he didn’t.

 

When he woke up, he didn’t feel very rested.


	8. Chapter 8

She knew that when she finally woke up, she maybe shouldn’t have been as _happy_ as she was.

In the last 24 hours, her moods had gone up and down. She had been giddy and happy, like she was a teenager again discovering a first crush. Then she was embarrassed for sending a wrong email. Then she was upset for being caught. Then she was ending a relationship and feeling poorly for it. She had gone to bed having doubts that things would actually end up working out for her in the end.

To say that Leyah was ultimately pessimistic would be an understatement.

She had plenty of reason to be: running away from home at 15, only to be stuck on the streets stealing and fending for herself for years, until she made the mistake of trying to pickpocket a very well known writer. Then her life turned around, because instead of turning her in, he decided to give her a roof over her head. He gave her a job, he gave her hope that she could have a life that meant something, and because of Varric, she was in a life she loved. Despite the occasional personal life issues, but as he always said _I can lead you, but you’re going to make horrible, terrible decisions. I mean, I taught you, right?_

But he had a good life, despite the mistakes he had made in his life, and she was enjoying a decent life too despite her own mistakes. So maybe she could drop the pessimistic attitude, at least for today. Yes, she had broken up with Cullen, but there was a hope they could be friends. Yes, she had a lot of nerves about meeting Dread Wolf today, but she was taking a huge risk and she could pat herself on the back for that. For someone who had lived with her life trying to avoid being noticed, she could live one day like she always wanted to. Taking risks, seeing where things could take her.

Getting out of bed and showered was the easy part. It was everything else that she didn’t know what to do with. Dorian sat on her bed, legs crossed reading a book as Leyah ran around the room in her bathrobe, hair hanging down damp around her shoulders, as she pulled out various outfits and tossed them onto her bed.

The most recent one flew past Dorian’s head and he watched it land on the lamp next to him. “Being frantic with your clothes isn’t going to make this go any faster you know,” He said dryly, but there was a smirk to his lips and Leyah looked over in that moment, and she huffed.

“I know that! This is just…” She started as she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, “I’m really nervous. It’s been whiplash this weekend.”

Dorian laughed and nodded in agreeance. “You could say that again--”

“But I’m not going to! Because you know how insane that sounds to--”

“ _Leyah_! I wasn’t _literally_ asking you to say it again! Calm down, you are too damn nervous. Stay here.” Dorian said, patting her shoulder as he moved off the bed and set his book down. Leyah glanced at it for a moment, and Dorian saw her, “Oh, Varric’s new book, _’Swords and Shields’_ , he just lent it to me! But don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back!”

She smirked as she read the title of the book; _It’s an inside joke between us_ he had said, and well now she needed to know how Cassandra liked her gifts. But that wasn’t for something right now. Right now, she needed to figure out what to wear. She needed to--

\--her phone went off. Reaching for it, she saw the email notification, and she couldn’t open the email fast enough.

> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: Today.  
>  Time: 11:54 AM
> 
> Perhaps it’s too forward for me to check, but we’re still on for today right? Will you still be with the white daisy?
> 
> \----
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: Re: Today.  
>  Time: 11:54 AM
> 
> Yes! Still 2pm, at Spirit Coffee, unless you wanted to change those plans…? And yes, look for the white daisy sitting against black hair.
> 
> \----
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: Re: Today.  
>  Time: 11:55AM
> 
> See you in a few hours then. I will look for the raven-haired beauty.

Oh god she was grinning. She was grinning from ear to ear and she could feel her face stretching and oh, _god_ , she was going to be a goner. But that was also getting her hopes up. She should hold down that feeling, because building up her hopes and letting them dash was something she didn’t want to happen. Deep breath. Big. Deep. Breaths.

She hadn’t realized that she was again standing up and pacing around her room until Dorian called her out on it when he returned. “You’re putting a hole into the floor, and as I much as I admire your attempt to try to redecorate, I’m not feeling that whole aesthetic,” He said with a smirk, as he held out a cup of coffee for her. She raised an eyebrow.

“Coffee is going to make me more jittery!” She said with a frown, “And I’m going to a coffee shop anyway…” She said as she took a sip, and then immediately made a face and looked up at Dorian.

He, of course laughed. “I’m not an expert drink maker like you are, but I thought a shot of something might help.”

“You put Jägermeister in coffee?”

“I almost put that gold one..what is it called?”

Leyah groaned, “Let me be the person who mixes the drinks please!” She said, as she set the coffee down and tapped her fingers on her hips. “I’m thinking sweater, jeans, my black boots…”

He nodded, “Just as long as you are comfortable and _you_ that’s what matters.”

“But, I mean, I’m sure he’s expecting a certain thing and what if I---”

“Leyah! Listen to yourself! If he doesn’t like _you_ for who you are, then he can piss off. You just got out of one relationship your heart wasn’t in, do you want to get into another one like that?” He asked, his arms crossed over his chest, looking at her as if he knew what he was talking about. Because, well, he did.

She nodded after a minute, “You’re right. You’re right! Okay. Just be myself. Because that’s the best package, right?” She said, though not as confidently as she wanted to and Dorian picked up the coffee she had put down.

“Believe what you’re saying or I’m going to make you drink this horrible concoction that I made.”

“Oh Maker, please no. That was….don’t quit your day job, please?” She protested and backed away from the coffee and Dorian laughed again.

“Get dressed,” He said with a smirk, as he walked out of the room and closed the door, allowing Leyah to get changed.

As she dressed and did her hair in a side braid, she wondered what Dread Wolf would be like. How would he smile, when he saw her? What color was his eyes? Did he have a brand of coffee that he liked the best? What would his favorite band be? Did he enjoy a certain author? She thoughtfully questioned everything about him, going over their past emails in her head. She hoped she’d be as entertaining in person as she was via email. She hoped he liked her.

She hoped he showed up. That was the biggest hope.

Fastening a large white daisy flower clip to her over-the-shoulder braid, she took one final look in the mirror and decided that she looked decent enough. She exited the bedroom to hear two voices talking in the living room - Dorian and Varric.

“Varric? What are you doing here?” She asked, raising an eyebrow as she joined them both on the couch, and he laughed.

“Sparkler here told me you had a hot date, and I wanted to come by and wish you luck.”

“Luck? Look at her, Varric, she doesn’t need luck! The man that denies her is crazy!” Dorian quipped, and grinned when he saw his comment caused Leyah to blush a little.

To his credit, Varric didn’t completely laugh in Leyah’s face about it, which she appreciated - he was one of the few who could see through any fronts she was putting up, and right now she felt like she was building a wall brick by brick around her. She was nervous as hell, having never really felt this anxious on a date before. She hadn’t even felt this way for Cullen. Maybe that explained a lot of things.

“Just be you, you’ll be _fine_ ,” Varric said, “Though, I’d like to know what happened with Cullen…” He started and Dorian waved him off and stood up, and pulled Leyah up off the couch.

“Oh look at the time! You should be going, get there early, pick out a good table! Go!” Dorian said, practically shoving Leyah out the door, and actually that was what he did, as she protested, and he shut the door behind her.

A moment later, she opened the door again and looked at Dorian. “I need my jacket, phone, wallet, keys…” She listed off with a smirk and Varric laughed as Dorian just shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Leyah gathered what she needed and walked towards the door, calling out for them not to wait up for her.

As she shut the door behind her, she heard Varric yell that Dorian wouldn’t let him leave until she came back.

So, well, she had _that_ to look forward to.

**********

Leyah arrived at Spirit Coffee early by fifteen minutes, and as she looked around, she realized the outdoor seating wouldn’t work. Mostly because it was too damn cold out and the shop seemed to have removed their outdoor seating, so that put a damper on things. She sent off a quick email; _Sitting inside! Too cold out, look for me by one of the windows :)_ as she picked out a table. It was in the corner of the cafe, right by a window, and it had a great view of the rest of the rather decorative street.

She pulled off her jacket and hung it up at the coat hook on the wall, and made sure her purse was around the back of her seat. She set her phone on the table, and used her reflection in the window to fix the flower in her hair, to make it easily noticeable. With ten minutes to go, a waiter came over and asked her for her drink order, and she ordered a black french vanilla coffee with three sugars, and waited.

It felt like an hour had passed from when the waiter came over with her drink, but it had only been a few minutes. She checked her phone: 1:55. She had five minutes until her _date_ was supposed to show up. Five minutes until maybe her life took a whole new path.

It was at 1:58 that she saw someone walk through the door, though he was hidden by others who came in. When others parted, he looked like an attractive man, long blond hair, grinning, looking around like he was looking for someone, and he started to walk towards her. Was this him? She moved to stand up to greet him, but luckily didn’t get far off her seat, as she watched him greet another man and kiss him firmly on the lips.

Well. Okay. That wasn’t Dread Wolf.

It hit 2:00 on the dot, and she felt her heart beating fast against her chest. He would be here any minute! And they’d talk happily about meeting each other, and he’d tell her all about his work in History (she assumed he was a professor, but she never really got confirmation) and she’d tell him all about her dreams and aspirations. Her fears, her worries, and they’d get along _so_ well. Then, they’d plan a next date. Maybe he’d kiss her, and maybe his lips would be soft against her own, and --

“Leyah?”

A voice took her out of her fantasy, and she looked up to the person who greeted her, and she saw Solas. She broke into a grin and stood up and hugged him, “Hi! Solas, what are you doing here?” She asked as the friendly hug parted and he looked a bit like a halla stuck in headlights. Maybe he wasn’t someone who hugged. She’d make a note of that.

“Oh, I’m…meeting a friend here, going over some new additions for the museum, a new exhibit,” He said with a confident smile and a shrug, and she nodded. “Can I join you?” He asked, as he moved to sit at the empty seat and she waved her hands out frantically.

“No!” She said quickly and with a force behind it, and he looked at her with surprise. She immediately blushed and sighed, biting her lip as she sunk into her seat. “Uh, I’m meeting someone here too. A...blind date, actually, and he might run if he sees you with me.”

Solas gave out a surprised laugh, and she found herself kind of offended he was laughing until he nodded, “I completely understand, I’ve been told I’m a bit too attractive for others to compete with,” He said, a tone of sarcasm there, and she finally laughed too.

“I’m so sorry, that was so mean of me! But uh...here, why don’t you sit here?” She said, gesturing to the empty two person table next to her, “So we can still talk until our friends get here.”

Solas seemed to like the idea, as he acknowledged it with a nod, and sat down at the empty table, taking the seat right next to her, so he had a good view of the door as well. She figured it was so he could easily wave his friend over. That was a good thing.

“So, blind date? I’ve never been on one of those, did someone set you up?” He asked, once a waiter came over and took his order - she listened as he ordered a black french vanilla regular, one sugar. She gave a small smirk to that, an order so similar to hers.

She looked at her phone, 2:15. Okay so maybe there was traffic, but certainly he was on his way. He had to be. She brought her attention back to Solas. “Oh, uh, well not exactly? He’s someone I met online.”

“Online dating?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, as he kept his look ahead, so it didn’t look like he was talking with her. She appreciated that -- it would seem like they weren’t together, so her date wouldn’t be scared off. “Why would someone like you need online dating? I thought you said you had a boyfriend when we spoke the other day.”

Oh jesus. Her face turned red and she cleared her throat, suddenly wishing she had the horrible Jager coffee Dorian had made her a few hours ago. “We, well it’s complicated, but we broke up last night. We’re better as friends, and that gives me a chance to try and be happy.”

“You weren’t happy before?”

“No, I wasn’t. But--”

“I’m sorry, that was terribly forward of me, I didn’t mean to insult you.” Solas’ voice was honest and sincere and she sighed softly as she turned to look at him.

“It’s okay! I promise. I’m hoping that today is a first step to me really being happy though. I’ve…” She started but stopped as she heard the door chime and she looked expectantly towards the door as … a woman and her daughter walked in. She fell back into her chair a little more, and she leaned forward to put a hand around her coffee. “I’ve been talking to this guy for a while. I think I told you that.” She said, continuing the conversation.

If Solas had noticed her disappointment that her date wasn’t here yet, he wasn’t showing it. “I do hope it works out, you deserve to be happy.”

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him, and he stammered a bit over his words, “Meaning that everyone deserves it, I did not mean to infer anything. As I said before when we talked, everyone deserves a chance at being happy.”

“Right! You’re right. Sorry, I’m just...really nervous.” She stopped to look at her phone. 2:20. No emails from Dread Wolf saying where he was, nothing about running late. “Do you know the WiFi name and password here?” She asked, biting her lip. Maybe her phone lost service and she missed an email, or something else happened. Maybe it was just a technological glitch. “There aren’t more of these coffee shops with this name in town, are there?”

“No, this is the only one.” Solas said, as he grabbed the menu in front of him, “Ah, the information is here,” He said, pointing out the WiFi password and name to her, handing her over the menu. She nodded a thank you as she put the information into her phone. When she did, she all but ignored Solas as she checked her phone and waited, refreshing her email a few times but nothing came up. After a minute or two of doing this, she sighed and cleared her throat.

“Sorry that was rude of me,” She finally said, and she looked over to Solas at the table next to her, noticing he had picked out a book to read. “What are you reading?”

Solas looked up from the book, and looked at the cover, “It’s an old text on the history of the art of Orlais, published about fifteen years ago.”

“Sounds like an _incredibly_ interesting read,” She said with a hint of snark in her voice without realizing it, and when he responded with a half snort and chuckle, she was thankful that he seemed to think it was amusing. “Wouldn’t you want to read something more recent?”

“Why? History doesn’t change, and the history of the art doesn’t change. New things can be discovered, but at the end of the day, we can’t reshape history. We can shape the future though.” He said, as he folded down the top corner of the page he was on and closed the book, taking a drink from his coffee. “It’s a bit of research too,” he admitted.

“Research for what?” She asked, as she dropped her eyes to her phone, refreshing her email app, and found she had nothing. It was 2:30.

“I’m working with the Museum of Modern Orlais Art to bring some paintings to the city to the museum. It’s incredibly hard to get the right pieces, or rather, the pieces that I want us to showcase, so I’m brushing up on the history of the pieces. I find that the more information you have on something you want, the easier it is to get it.” He said, with a shrug, though after he spoke, it almost seemed like his words hit him weird, and there was an expression on his face that she couldn’t place. Almost an embarrassment, but not quite, and that seemed to not be the right expression anyway.

“Is that what you’re meeting your friend about?” She asked, taking a drink from her coffee.

“My...friend, ah, _Right_. Uh, yes. It is. But I’m not sure they’re going to show,” He admitted, as he looked towards the door as someone else came in.

At the sound of the bell at the door, Leyah said up straight and bit her lower lip, hoping and praying that her Dread Wolf was walking through the door, and maybe this time she was right. A man walked in, and started towards the area of the cafe they were sitting at, and Leyah smiled at him. Solas, for his part, pretended not to be paying attention or be curious in who Leyah was looking at.

The man walked right past the two of them to a red-head in the back of the cafe, greeting her with a kiss. Leyah couldn’t hide her disappointment, as once again her shoulders fell and she looked at her phone. 2:45.

“I don’t think he’s coming,” She said softly, a tone of disappointment in her voice.

Solas cleared his throat, as he put his book in his coat pocket and stood up. “Come on,” He said, holding out a hand for her to help her out of her seat.

Leyah looked up at him with confusion, “What?”

“Well if your date won’t come, and my friend has just cancelled on me, why don’t we explore the city together? Take our minds off of being stood up. What are your thoughts?”

She was a bit thrown at the gesture, but she couldn’t help but accept the kindness. “I think that’s a great idea.” She accepted his hand to help her stand up, and she broke away from him to get her coat and purse, leaving money on the table for her coffee. She watched as Solas did the same with his coffee, and they left the cafe together.

They headed down the street, walking past a few local shops, Leyah deciding to turn off her phone and ignore the world. He had stood her up. She had waited for almost an hour, and he had stood her up with no word. Nothing. How could he?

She’d write a strongly written email later, but right now, Solas was right. This could be a good distraction, and he was an interesting man. As they took a turn into a park, people of various races, color, and gender walking around and pairing up, she let out a frustrated sigh. “I cannot believe he stood me up!” She sighed hard again and shook her head. “I’ll show _him_ a Dread Wolf, whatever _that_ is supposed to mean.”

“Isn’t that a name of an old god? Or fabled one, at least?” Solas asked, and she looked over to him.

“You know, you might be right, it’s been so long since I’ve read a history book.” She said, “Unlike you, I don’t just have one in my pocket handy.”

He laughed at this, “Well, maybe any man who uses the name of a ‘god’ as his username isn’t exactly what he claims to be?”

She knew what he was doing. He was trying to cheer her up, and she admired that. “Maybe, but I don’t want to give up on him just yet. Benefit of the doubt, you know? Maybe something happened and he wasn’t able to get to email to contact me.”

Solas nodded, “Understood. I still stand by my statement that you deserve happiness though.”

“You seem awfully concerned with my happiness,” She replied, as they walked through the park, “What makes _you_ happy?”

“It varies from day to day, but I’d have to say at the moment, walking through the park with a new friend makes me happy.” His smile was so honest then, so sincere, that it made Leyah blush, and she tried to laugh it off. She did this by nudging him with her arm.

“Look at you, you sly guy. How sweet,” She laughed, “I’ll accept that as an answer for now.”

They continued to talk through their walk in the park, and ended up at a little cart, getting a pretzel. He paid for it, she protested, but let him anyway. They talked about what they did for a living, their hobbies and she was surprised to know that he painted. She told him she had done a bit of painting when she was in school, but it had been years since she had done it. He had suggested they get together and paint sometime, and to her surprise, she accepted.

They made plans to get together and when they realized they were walking around near her residence, he walked her to her door.

“You know, despite today not at all going as I had planned, I’m glad we ran into each other. You really cheered me up a lot, Solas,” She said as they walked down the hall to her apartment, and he nodded to her with a smile.

“I’m glad too. Oh, before I forget,” He pulled out his wallet, and handed her a business card, “My phone number. If you ever want to chat.”

She accepted the business card and their fingers brushed against each other for a moment, and she felt a weird hint of _something_ move through her but she couldn’t place what it was. “I’m serious about us getting together to paint, I’d love to see your work.”

 _This_ somehow caused Solas to blush, and she saw the pink at the tip of his ears. She smiled at the sight of it as they reached her door. “Well this is me, I’ll call you, okay? And again, thank you for today, I really mean that.” She stood on her toes a bit and kissed him on the cheek, “That was very sweet of you.”

“You’re welcome,” He said, his voice a little softer than it was before, “I hope you figure out what happened to your Wolf,” He said, and she swore she heard a hint of sadness. Or maybe that was her wishful thinking.

Why would she wish that?

“Oh, well, I hope you get in contact with your friend too. Have a good night, Solas.”

“Goodnight, da’len.” He said, with a nod, and she watched him head down the hallway, and when he looked back to wave to her, she waved back.

She unlocked her door to find Varric and Dorian in her living room watching a movie.

“So, how did it go?” Dorian asked, pausing the movie, as Varric made a protesting noise.

“You don't pause the movie in the middle of a fight!”

“Oh shut up, Varric, you’ve seen this movie a million times, you know how it ends. I want to hear about Leyah’s date.”

By the time they finished bickering, Leyah had taken off her jacket and was turning her phone back on. She sunk into the chair next to the couch Varric and Dorian were sitting on, and when her phone came to life and she had no messages, she sighed. “Oh, it didn’t happen. But I ended up spending the day with Solas.” She said with a shrug.

“What?” Varric asked, confused, and sitting up a bit straight on the couch. “What do you mean it didn’t happen?”

“Dread Wolf? He didn’t show up. I was waiting for an hour. Solas happened to be there, meeting a friend about an art exhibit, and his friend stood him up too. I never got an email or anything from Dread Wolf telling me where he was, what happened, and,” She held up her phone, “I still have nothing. But Solas decided to cheer me up, and we had a really nice day together. We’re going to make plans later to paint.”

“ARt exhibit?” Dorian questioned, “Oh the Orlais Art exhibit? I didn’t think he was able to get that! That’s fantastic news! Well, perhaps not fantastic if his contact didn’t show, but I’m glad you guys had a decent time. But are you alright?”

Leyah nodded, “Disappointed, but I’ll live. I’ll email Dread Wolf later. Turn the movie back on, this is the best part.” She said as she held her hand out towards Dorian, who put a handful of popcorn into her hand. She didn’t notice the suspicious look on Varric’s face, and it quickly left anyway once the movie started up again.

She tossed the handful of popcorn into her mouth and with her free hand, took out Solas’ business card and looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, before she put his phone number into her phone.

  
_Leyah - 6:45 PM_  
Hey, it’s Leyah! So you have my number.  
Thanks again for today, it meant a lot.

_Solas - 6:50 PM_  
Anytime, it was my pleasure. 

She’d deal with Dread Wolf later.

Right now, she was trying to enjoy the new friend she was bonding with, and the great movie that was on TV. Anger and frustration in written form could come later.

What she didn’t see, was Varric typing a message on his phone, looking a bit annoyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the day comes.... _whoops_! 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter! And you may notice I took out the schedule -- work has built up for me a bit, so the next few chapters might be a little delayed in coming, but they're coming! Hope you all enjoy!


	9. Chapter 9

> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: You didn’t show.  
> Time: 1:54 AM
> 
> I waited a few hours before I wrote you, because I wanted to see if you would contact me. I wanted to see if you would explain yourself. To explain why you made me wait for _an hour_ , alone. Thank the creators that I had run into a friend there, because that meant I wasn’t going to die of embarrassment. But that is exactly what you did: embarrass me.
> 
> Was that your intention? To run me around, to lead me on, to get my hopes up? All those late night talks, all the good morning greetings, and you’ve been silent for over twelve hours. Are you ashamed? You should be. You should be _so_ ashamed for what you did. You lead me to believe that you wanted to meet with me, that you wanted to form a connection. I believed that. Because I wanted it so badly.
> 
> I hope you have a reasonable explanation for this. I really do. I really want to give you another shot, but right now, I don’t know if I can.
> 
> So, tell me, Dread Wolf. Where were you?

  
  
There were complications.  
  
Of course there were complications.   
  
Of course he didn’t make the “right” choice and just tell her. Because that would have been too easy. That would have been decent.   
  
But he had managed to spend the day with her, getting to know who she was, and she got to know who _he_ was. Maybe it wasn’t how she had wanted it to go. But it had still happened. They still met each other. Or, he had met her, she just had a day with a new friend she had met at her place of work a few nights ago.   
  
Now he was faced with the difficult decision of not knowing what to do. On one hand, he wanted to tell Leyah what happened. That she wasn’t stood up at all, that she actually ended up spending the day with the person she thought she’d spend it with. Then he’d just have to deal with the consequences of what would happen. On the other hand, the idea of not telling her could give him a bit of an advantage. He could see if she wanted him, Solas, not the man he had created. He could see if perhaps he could create a relationship based on his own merits.   
  
Wouldn’t _that_ be an interesting feat?   
  
But he had been staring at this email from Leyah for over an hour, and now it was closer to 3 in the morning and he was no closer to resolving the tension in his shoulders.   
  
The biggest thing was that he had a fantastic time yesterday. In fact, one of the best dates he had been on in a while, and it wasn’t even technically a date. He had found himself so interested in what she had to say, noticing the way she got a bit of a twinkle in her eye when she laughed, how she played with her ears a bit when she was embarrassed about something, and just the way she kept teasing him about various things.   
  
Like how she still had the video of him on her phone and she was still going to hold that over his head, _Forever_ , she had said, and then laughed, nudging him in the shoulder. If it had been anyone else, he would have been perturbed. But instead…  
  
Instead he found it endearing.   
  
But he had also noticed other things as well. The way she anxiously looked at the door when she saw someone walk through the door, and the disappointment on her face when it wasn’t who she had expected. What had she expected? Did she have a certain image in her mind of who she wanted to be with, who she had hoped he’d be? Did he meet _any_ of those expectations?   
  
He was doubting himself, which he wasn’t prone to doing. He was a confident man, he knew what he wanted in his life, and he knew what he had to do to achieve it. He knew he made mistakes, but he had his own way of making up for them and he felt that made it better in the end.   
  
But he still had to reply to her. He still had to tell her what happened, he still needed to man up and respond.   
  
He had been laying in bed, restless and unable to get to sleep, going through the day over and over in his mind. On one hand, he had a fantastic day, that he spent time with her, got to know her better, and made plans to hang out at another time. On the other hand, he hadn’t been truthful. But, he wasn’t technically lying either. He just withheld the truth.  
  
Deciding that sleep just wasn’t going to happen right now, he shifted. Sitting up in bed, he leaned over and grabbed his laptop resting on the bedside table, and pulled it over to him, resting on his lap. The dim glow of the laptop was the only thing lighting the room other than the alarm clock glowing the time it was in red.   
  
He pulled up the email, re-reading it for the third time now that he wasn’t reading it on his phone, and started to reply.  
  


> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: You didn’t show.  
> Time: 3:20 AM
> 
> Please believe me when I say I am so sorry that I was unable to make it today. By the time I went to contact you…

  
  
He stopped typing. What possible excuse could he come up with that would make everything okay? Or at least believable? He couldn’t just admit that he had been there, and spent the whole time with her, because she might just cut him off completely.   
  


> By the time I went to contact you, I had already lost service. A poor excuse I know, but I’ve been called away on business at the last minute. I feel terrible that I’ve missed our meeting, and I hope you can forgive me. When I’ve come back from my business trip, I’d like to meet up with you. Explain myself better in person, and over dinner and drinks instead of coffee.
> 
> I know you might not think this is a reasonable response, and I apologize that I couldn't do this in person, but being out of the country does that.
> 
> I hope you still want to talk to me though, as I’d like to tell you stories about my travels. I hope to hear from you soon, or even just at all. I will let you decide where we go from here.

  
  
He read over his email a few times before finally deciding it would have to do. Saying that ‘he’ was out of the country could buy him some time. He could spend more time with Leyah, getting to know her, and he could reveal himself later. Once she knew him better, once she knew the man he was and the man he was capable of being.   
  
He wasn’t expecting her to answer any time soon. It was almost 3:30 in the morning, and even coming up with that lie exhausted him. But now he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, and decided to check the rest of his emails. Work related mostly, and a few emails from Varric, nothing he couldn’t just let wait until morning.   
  
He set his laptop to the side of him on the bed, and turned on the light on the bedside table. He could read, he could work on more research. There were plenty of things he could be doing.   
  


  
_Leyah - 3:35 AM_  
Sorry if I’m waking you up! Can’t sleep.  
But, plans for tomorrow? We could hang out again.

_Solas - 3:36 AM_  
You didn’t wake me up. I was already awake.  
Tomorrow? Or as in a few hours from now?

_Leyah - 3:36 AM_  
Oh! Tomorrow, tomorrow.  
I’ve had a weird morning.  
Or night.

_Solas - 3:36 AM_  
Anything I can do to help?

_Leyah - 3:37 AM_  
Just trying to figure out if I should believe this or not.

_Solas - 3:37 AM_  
Believe what?

_Leyah - 3:37 AM_  
Remember the guy I was supposed to meet today?  
He just emailed me a reason why he wasn’t able to show.

_Solas - 3:37 AM_  
Ah. And what did he say?

_Leyah - 3:38 AM_  
He had a last minute business trip.  
So he wasn’t able to contact me until now.  
Lord knows what time it is where he is.

_Solas - 3:38 AM_  
Do you believe what he said?

_Leyah - 3:39 AM_  
I want to.  
I liked this guy a lot.  
Do you believe in second chances?

_Solas - 3:39 AM_  
Not normally, no. But I believe there is a rhyme and reason for the actions people take.

_Leyah - 3:39 AM_  
Well, going away on business is a pretty good reason.

_Solas - 3:40 AM_  
Then there you go. I believe you have your answer.

_Leyah - 3:40 AM_  
I do. Thank you, Solas.

_Solas - 3:40 AM_  
Of course.

_Leyah - 3:40 AM_  
I’m going to try to get some sleep, I’ll text you about ideas for plans for tomorrow.  
Hopefully I don’t have work, so I need to check that.  
I’ll let you know.

_Solas - 3:41 AM_  
Looking forward to it. Sleep well.

_Leyah - 3:41 AM_  
You too!

He hadn’t expected Leyah to text him, but it was a nice surprise. In a way, it made him feel good about his decision to withhold the truth from her right now. It felt a bit odd to be trying to talk himself into thinking this was a good decision to make, but the decision was his and his alone.   
  
For some reason, it was that thought that eased his mind, and it was that thought that calmed him enough to get some sleep, happily welcoming dreaming. The next step in his now slowly forming plan to get to know Leyah was forming, but that could wait until he had a good amount of sleep to go on. He couldn’t be making poor decisions on lack of sleep, after all. Any choice he made, he needed to be cognitive of.   
  
He fell asleep with a small smile on his face.   
  
As he slept, his email pinged on his phone, but he was too deep into sleep to notice it.   
  


> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: Re: You didn’t show.  
> Time: 4:10 AM
> 
> I really want to believe you. So, I’m going to choose to believe you. A new friend reminded me that there is usually a reason for things, and those reasons are usually true, so I am choosing to take his advice.
> 
> I hope your trip will be a short one, because I really do want to see you, and the prospect of dinner is a lot better than my idea of coffee. I mean, you didn’t really miss much, I think they really need to fix their coffee flavors, or get better food. Or maybe I was just too anxious, ordered a coffee I didn’t like, and didn’t realize. Also could have been that.
> 
> Anyway, I’m rambling! It’s way too early (or late, since I haven’t been able to get to sleep yet), and I need to try to get some sleep.
> 
> Sleep well, or good morning, since I don’t know where in the world you are now, but I hope you arrived safely.
> 
> Until later.

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

“Leyah! Can you get the glassware in the back?”   
  
“How are we out already?”  
  
“Because _someone_ forgot to fix the dishwasher!”  
  
“How is it in _my fault_ that it’s broken?! And I’m not a magical mechanic!”  
  
“I don’t know, it just is! And maybe you should learn some damn magic!” Krem shot back, yelling towards Leyah in the back room of Chargers, and he rolled his eyes as he worked on getting the drink orders for the waiting customers.   
  
Leyah, grumbling, came out from the back with clean fresh glasses and started to set them up under the bar top next to Krem, “Excuse me if my mage in last night’s D &D wasn’t good enough for you,” She muttered and this cause Krem to laugh. Ultimately she knew all the yelling was teasing, it was just what her friendship with Krem was. He was trying to get into things outside of work, so inviting him to her D&D night with her college friends was one of those moments.   
  
“I don’t understand how I just couldn’t have just fought through that dragon!” Krem protested, and this was met from a deep laugh from their boss coming up from the back office.   
  
“You’re just not ready for the big time yet, Krem,” Bull teased, slapping Krem on the back and as Krem made a wincing face, Leyah did her best not to laugh.   
  
It was a busy time for the bar, with the year ending soon, people were trying to get their last minute resolutions done before the new year started and made everything null and void. So lately they had been host to speed dating nights, karaoke nights, and other singles mixers that not only seemed to help people find someone else, but it brought in a hell of a lot of good business for Chargers.   
  
Which meant that Leyah had been working doubles all week, and that meant she hadn’t had time to do anything else.   
  
Specifically, she hadn’t had time to cash in on that plan to hang out with Solas, she hadn’t had too much time to email with Dread Wolf, and she hardly ever saw her roommate as is. She was looking forward to the end of the year just so that she could have a day off or two. Being busy was one thing, but Leyah found herself like one of the people who were in the bar, currently running around in the speed dating event.   
  
She wanted to find love, and she wanted to start the new year on a good note. She already had a party to go to (Varric’s, as she did every year), but she didn’t have a date. Granted, that was because she had broken up with Cullen, but that was for a good reason.   
  
She had expected, after all, to be starting some sort of _something_ with Dread Wolf by now, not wondering if he was worth the effort.   
  
(She thought he was worth the effort, even despite standing her up. He had his reasons, and they had been talking - though not as much as she would have liked - since then, and things seemed to be going okay. Or, she thought it was okay.)  
  
But life, as always, seemed to have a different plan for her. So she was going to Varric’s party in two days solo, and she was okay with that. She had to be, right?   
  
She was just thankful that Cullen wasn’t going to be there with Ellana. As much as she was happy for him, she also wasn’t ready to see him moved on and happy with someone else. Maybe because she wasn’t yet. It wasn’t for lack of trying.   
  
Finishing putting away the glasses, Leyah went to various patrons around the large oval bar, taking orders, making drinks, essentially running around as if she were a chicken with her head cut off. But it was good for tips, and it was good for keeping her occupied.   
  
As she ran around, the speed dating went on in the bar behind them, a woman announcing when it was time for them to switch spaces, and soon the event was over. People were handing in their cards, matches were being made, and those who didn’t end up getting a match were coming up to the bar and ordering drinks, as others left the bar all together.   
  
She was making her way through the bar when she heard a familiar voice, “How long are you going to make me wait for a drink, kid?”  
  
Leyah rolled her eyes, turning to see Varric sitting at the bar with a huge grin on her face, and she started on his usual. “I don’t know, are you going to be nice? And please tell me you weren’t doing something with the speed dating, I don’t know if Cass would be able to deal with that.” She smirked, as she handed him his drink, and he picked it up, nodded as a thanks, and took a drink. “Cass was actually the one who suggested I come to watch this. She says my new romance novel needs some _excitement_ ,” He said with a chuckle, “But this was as exciting as an arrow through the knee.”   
  
She crossed her arms, and smirked, “So wait, she _wants_ you to write more? I thought you both decided you were trying to get a _real_ job,” She teased, and ducked as he threw the bar coaster at her, and it flew past her and hit Krem in the shoulder. He looked over with a raised eyebrow, and when he saw it came from Varric, he just laughed it off and continued the drinks he was making.   
  
“Oh don’t pretend like you aren’t waiting for my new book. I gave Sparkler an advance copy, you should steal it from him.”   
  
“I know, Dorian was reading it while I was getting ready for my date.” She said, and then frowned for a moment, realizing it had been almost a week since then.   
  
“You talk to your online contact since then?” Varric asked, curiosity in his tone, and an eyebrow raised as he took a drink, “I imagine you didn’t want to speak with him anymore?”  
  
“No, I did. I called him out, and he let me know he had been called away on business. A very legitimate excuse. Besides, the day hadn’t been a complete waste.” She said with a shrug, as a waitress came over with a list of drinks, and Leyah looked them over and started to gather what she needed. She could mix and talk at the same time, and it wasn’t like Varric would mind her multitasking. “I had a really good time with Solas, and he seems to be a really interesting guy.”   
  
She had her head down making the drinks when she spoke, so she didn’t see Varric’s face of annoyance. He was lucky she didn’t, he knew that, because he knew she’d call him out the second he said it. “Have you spoken to Solas since? Did I ever tell you that I know him?” He said, and this caused Leyah to look up.   
  
“You do?” She raised an eyebrow, “Why didn’t you let me know that?”   
  
“Didn’t seem important, you don’t know everyone I know, and if you wanted to meet them all, we’d be meeting people for _decades_ ,” He laughed, and took another drink from his glass, holding it between his hands and looking down at it for a moment before looking back to Leyah, who was back to continue making drinks. “But you’re right that he’s an interesting guy, you at least got that down.”   
  
Leyah set a few drinks on a tray for the waitress to come and take, and she wiped down the bar top, “Something you’re not telling me?” She asked, and Varric shook his head.   
  
“Not really, besides, I like you making new friends. You clinging to me all the time is getting pretty old.”   
  
This caused Leyah to toss the bar towel at him, and he laughed, “Disgusting, I expect nothing less from you.”   
  
“Oh shove it.” She laughed, “Let me go take care of my other patrons and I’ll come back to you, alright? And you’re paying for these drinks, Varric, not all of them can be on the house!”  
  
“ _Ouch_ , I’m wounded!” Varric teased, and as Leyah disappeared to talk to other patrons, Varric pulled out his phone.   
  


  
_Varric - 9:50 PM_  
So, you didn’t tell her.

_Solas - 9:50 PM_  
Hello to you too, Varric.

_Varric - 9:51 PM_  
I hope you know what you’re doing.  
I’m not going to be keeping your secret for long, Solas.  
I don’t like lying to her.

_Solas - 9:55 PM_  
It’s complicated.

_Varric - 9:55 PM_  
How is it complicated?  
How the fuck is “Hi, I’m the guy you’ve been talking to online for months, what a freaky happenstance” complicated?

  
  
Focusing on his phone, he hadn’t seen Leyah come back. “You know, your face might stick that way,” Her voice teased, and he looked up, his features softening. “Everything alright?” She asked, with curiosity on her expression and Varric nodded.   
  
“Yeah, yeah, just in a small argument with a friend, but nothing that a few drinks won’t solve.” Varric said with a shrug, as his phone lit up. He waited until Leyah’s back was turned to talk to Krem and Bull before he looked at the screen again.   
  


  
_Solas - 10:00 PM_  
She wants the persona I created. Not me.  
So I’m trying a different approach.

_Varric - 10:05 PM_  
Andraste’s ass, Solas. You better know what you’re doing.

_Solas - 10:06 PM_  
I will figure it out, my friend.

  
  
Varric shoved his phone back into his pocket as Leyah came over, and Bull had followed, “What is this I hear about a new book, Varric? I hope I’m in it,” Bull laughed, “Make sure you get all my features right, and describe me perfectly.”   
  
“I don’t know if your beer gut is worthy of description, Tiny,” Varric teased back, and Bull feigned being hurt, and Leyah burst out laughing.   
  
“Think you’ll be okay with Bull here? He’s letting me head home early,” Leyah said, and Bull nodded.   
  
“You’ve earned it. Besides, I think Krem and I can handle it, right Krem?”  
  
A cheerful “Right, Chief,” was heard from the other side of the bar, and Bull grinned, “See? Nothing will burn to the ground while Krem has my back.”   
  
“Are you saying the chances are higher it might burn down if I stay here?” She asked, her hands on her hips, and Varric took the chance to chime in.   
  
“Well, you _did_ break that dishwasher.”  
  
“How do _you_ know about that?!”  
  
Krem’s “I KNEW IT!” was heard and Leyah’s face turned deep red, as Varric and Bull laughed her out of the bar and into the back room to get her things.   
  
It wasn’t her fault she was bad with technology.   
  


**********

  
  
“You’re going to Varric’s party on Friday, right?”   
  
Leyah wasn’t even two steps through the door without being greeted by Dorian’s question. He had set up shop on the dining table, papers and a laptop out in front of him, and it didn’t take much to figure out that he had taken his work home with him.   
  
Leyah rolled her eyes, “Oh hello to you too, Dorian, I missed you too, I hope your day was _amazing_ ,” She droned, as she shrugged off her jacket to hang it in the closet, and made her way to the kitchen for a beer. She soon joined Dorian at the dining table, sitting a seat away from him so the seat between them could be used as a foot rest for her.   
  
“You didn’t answer my question,” Dorian said, though there was a smirk with it. He seemed to stop whatever he was doing and set his pen on top of the papers next to him. “I need to talk about something _other_ than this new exhibit coming to the museum. It’s all these artifacts that...quite simply are _boring_. I love history as much as the next...history-loving person, but old mosaic tiles are not anything new.” He leaned forward, grabbed Leyah’s beer, took a drink, and made a face. “We’ve got to get you better beer. IPAs are great and all, but get better taste.”  
  
“Don’t let Bull here you say that, he might get offended.” Leyah pointed at Dorian, taking the drink back and took a drink for her own before setting it down. “And I...wasn’t sure. About Varric’s party, that is.”  
  
“I’m not going alone!”  
  
“You have Bull!”  
  
“I have nothing of the sort! Besides, we always go together. It is our little tradition, and I will be dammed to see you break it.” He said, as he brought his eyes to his computer for a moment, made a face, and closed the top of his laptop. “You could invite that mystery man of yours, you know. If he’s returned to the city from his trip yet.” This was said with a raised eyebrow and it caused Leyah to sigh.  
  
“I know you don’t believe that he went on the trip, but you haven’t spoken to him like I have.”   
  
“True. You’ve also never met the man either.”   
  
“That wasn’t for lack of trying.”   
  
“Still, going to meet one man, and spending the day with another? You’re like one of Varric’s romance novels, but more interesting, and with more _scandal_.”  
  
If there was something around for Leyah to throw at Dorian right now, she would have chucked whatever it was directly at his head. “There is no scandal! I just spend the day with Solas, I got to know him, and we’ve been talking here and there since then--”  
  
“So are _you_ the reason he’s so distracted in meetings lately?”   
  
“What?” It was Leyah’s turn to raise an eyebrow and Dorian nodded.  
  
“I’ve caught him looking at his phone a few times while we were meeting about the new exhibit, it’s not like him to be so distracted. I thought something else might have caught his attention, like some new artifact or something far more interesting than the tiles, but he’s the one who brought those in. So, of course the next logical guess would be a romantic entanglement!”  
  
“Romantic? Dorian, you need to stop reading Varric’s novels. Really.”  
  
“Come off it, Leyah. Even you admitted the other day he was great company, and you enjoyed yourself. You went on a date, you ended up having one with him instead. Is that so wrong?”  
  
She hadn’t really thought of it that way.   
  
“I had made plans with him a few days ago, but I had to call it off due to work. I have the next two days off, maybe I can see if he’s free.” She said, with a thoughtful look on her face. “But I want to check in with Dread Wolf too, I haven’t had the chance to talk to him lately.”  
  
“You take one step forward, and two steps back. Why not pay more attention to the guy who is actually _real_ and in front of you?”  
  
“Because there is history there! I...Dorian, I have to try to see that through. Or at least see it end.” She said with a shrug, “I have a good connection with him. I’d like to think he feels the same.”   
  
“He might, just be careful. Plus, Josie and I know Solas, and he hasn’t really been out with _anyone_ since he started working at the museum. I don’t even know if the poor man has any friends outside of yours truly!”  
  
“Apparently, he’s friends with Varric.”   
  
“Really? That’s...well not that surprising. Varric _does_ seem to know everyone.” Dorian said, as he shifted in his seat, resting his chin on his hand, his elbow resting on the table. “But oh! Maybe then he’ll be there on Friday too! You should make sure he goes!”  
  
“Honestly, Dorian, you’re just driving head first into matchmaker territory, and I’m not sure you’re--”  
  
“Leyah, just do it for me? If anything, I can introduce him to new people, and you can go on a date with your iPhone and pretend it’s your online guy.”   
  
“I want to throw something at you so bad right now.”   
  
“You wouldn’t dare.”  
  
“You’re right, not now. Only when you least expect it.” Leyah grinned, finishing her beer, and stood up. “But I’ll ask him. I’m gonna head to bed, don’t get too carried away with your work out here.”   
  
“I’m actually wondering if I should start crafting love emails to someone! Think of the drama and scandal! I could create my own entertainment!” Dorian teased, grinning towards Leyah as she walked past him and she headed for her bedroom.   
  
“Yeah, because Bull would _love_ that.”  
  
“We’re not dating!”  
  
“ _Uh huh_ ,” She called out, and shut the door behind her.


	11. Chapter 11

  
_Leyah - 11:35 PM_  
Hey! I hope I’m not waking you.  
Or that you’re a person who goes to bed early.

_Solas - 11:36 PM_  
You just caught me getting into bed with a book actually.  
Which means I’ll most likely be up for another four hours.

_Leyah - 11:36 PM_  
What are you reading?

_Solas - 11:36 PM_  
Something I wrote, actually.

_Leyah - 11:37 PM_  
You’re...wait you wrote a book?

_Solas - 11:37 PM_  
Trying to, anyway. I’ve been working on researching this for a while, and it’s about time that I try to get it published.

_Leyah - 11:37 PM_  
So you’re re-reading it to edit it?

_Solas - 11:37 PM_  
Yes. Exactly that.

_Leyah - 11:37 PM_  
What is it about?

_Solas - 11:38 PM_  
Interpreting dreams. I know that sounds a bit…

_Leyah - 11:38 PM_  
Awesome?

_Solas - 11:38 PM_  
I was going to say ‘lame’, but now I’m curious as to why you think it’s so awesome?

_Leyah - 11:38 PM_  
I’ve always been interested in that stuff.  
I try to write all my dreams down.  
I believe in past lives too.

_Solas - 11:38 PM_  
As do I. This book is about interpreting it, as sometimes the dreams might be memories or something more.

_Leyah - 11:39 PM_  
So this explains how you know Varric then! :)

_Solas - 11:39 PM_  
What?

_Leyah - 11:39 PM_  
Varric! He’s...well he’s practically my brother, it’s a really long story.  
But we were talking about you today at the bar, he mentioned he knows you.  
So I’m guessing your book might be why!

_Solas - 11:40 PM_  
Yes, we share the same publishing agent.  
Though I haven’t had as much luck as he’s had.

_Leyah - 11:40 PM_  
Aw, come on, the museum can’t be that bad!

_Solas - 11:40 PM_  
It’s not.  
Just I like to explore my options.

_Leyah - 11:41 PM_  
Are you like that in relationships too?

_Solas - 11:42 PM_  
I’m afraid I don’t understand.

_Leyah - 11:42 PM_  
Oh. Uh, exploring options? That...sounded different in my head.  
Uh, so ANYWAY  
I have the next two days off.  
Want to finally hang out?

_Solas - 11:43 PM_  
Sure, if you’re free. I was considering taking the rest of this week off myself. I never take vacation anyway.  
And for the record, I’m always up for exploring things. In my personal and professional life.

_Leyah - 11:44 PM_  
Is that so?

_Solas - 11:44 PM_  
I suppose so.

_Leyah - 11:44 PM_  
Can I ask you a question?

_Solas - 11:44 PM_  
Of course.

_Leyah - 11:45 PM_  
Did you think we went on a date?  
When you ran into me at the coffee shop?

_Solas - 11:46 PM_  
When you were waiting for your friend?

_Leyah - 11:46 PM_  
Yeah. How you and I ended up spending most of the day together.  
And then we exchanged numbers.

_Solas - 11:46 PM_  
Doesn’t a date typically end with a kiss?

_Leyah - 11:46 PM_  
I...well I guess so? I haven’t really been on a proper date in months.

_Solas - 11:47 PM_  
I haven‘t been on one in years.

_Leyah - 11:47 PM_  
Since moving into town?

_Solas - 11:47 PM_  
Since before then.

_Leyah - 11:47 PM_  
So then do you want to hang out tomorrow?

_Solas - 11:48 PM_  
As a date?

_Leyah - 11:48 PM_  
As a...hang out and see what happens thing?

_Solas - 11:48 PM_  
What did you have in mind?

_Leyah - 11:48 PM_  
Well, you mention you like to paint, right?  
How about I come over, and we can paint something!

_Solas - 11:48 PM_  
Are you usually this forward?

_Leyah - 11:49 PM_  
Is it bothering you?

_Solas - 11:49 PM_  
Not at all.

_Leyah - 11:49 PM_  
Good!  
You still need to give me an answer.

_Solas - 11:50 PM_  
Tomorrow, my place. 7:00 PM.  
I’ll order take out.  
I’ll send you my address tomorrow.

_Leyah - 11:50 PM_  
Great! I’ll see you then! :)

**********

> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: Catching Up  
>  Time: 12:50 AM
> 
> I’m sorry that I haven’t had the chance to get in contact with you, but I wanted to see how you’ve been. I miss our conversations. I hope you’re still not too sour with me about what happened. But if you are, I understand.
> 
> \---
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 12:55 AM
> 
> I was just thinking about you! Were your ears burning with anticipation?
> 
> Sorry I haven’t really had the chance to either. I ended up picking up extra hours at work, and with it being the end of the year and all, I want to get all the hours I can get before enjoying my few days off.
> 
> Will you be back in town by New Years’ Eve, by any chance?
> 
> \---
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:05 AM
> 
> Ah, so that was what that feeling was. I thought it might have just been the want to hear from you again. I find that you’re in my thoughts constantly lately. Perhaps that’s my way of making myself feel guilty for unfortunately standing you up.
> 
> Where do you work? I don’t think I’ve ever really asked you. I hope you are not working too hard and can enjoy the end of the week.
> 
> I’m not sure if I am able to be back yet. Things are up in the air at the moment, I’m just waiting on the results of the next few days. Why?
> 
> \---
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:10 AM
> 
> You’ve been in my thoughts too. I still wonder what you sound like. What you feel like. Even, well, what you taste like. Though that’s just my imagination getting away from me.
> 
> (For the record, I just made myself blush! Which...happens a lot when I think about you. So maybe, maybe that’s why I was so quick to forgive you. Because I believe in second chances.)
> 
> Uh, I work as a literary agent! Yeah, it’s just long hours! But as I said, I have the next two days off, and then the weekend of course. But I was asking because I was hoping you could maybe be my date to a party. If that wouldn’t be too weird.
> 
> You know, I never asked you what you did. So? Care to tell the class?
> 
> \---
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:16 AM
> 
> The more you talk like that, the less I am going to be able to sleep tonight. You’re not playing fair.
> 
> A literary agent, that has to be an interesting job. I’m a museum curator. But it takes me in and out of the city constantly.
> 
> If I can make it back for New Year’s Eve, then I will be happy to be your date. Though I may just try to steal you away for myself, and distract you from going to your party at all. If I might be forward.
> 
> \---
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:20 AM
> 
> I don’t like to play fair.
> 
> Oh my roommate is a museum curator! But he doesn’t get to travel as much as he’d like, he said that only his director gets to do that. I wonder if you guys work at the same museum, what a small world that would be!
> 
> Yeah, let me know! I’d….well honestly your idea of the night sounds so much better than mine.
> 
> \---
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:27 AM
> 
> Noted. Perhaps also written down for my own sake.
> 
> That would be a rather small world! I’d enjoy that, I think it would be pretty amazing to know you were this close this whole time. Wouldn’t you?
> 
> \---
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:30 AM
> 
> It would be interesting! What a small world it is, right? Stranger things have happened!
> 
> \---
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: Catching Up  
>  Time: 1:31 AM
> 
> Stranger things have happened. You have no idea how right you are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short-ish chapter! More coming soon, friends :)


	12. Chapter 12

She had gotten a little carried away last night, and she didn’t even have the alcohol to blame.

Instead, she had her heart to blame. Because on one hand, she had her Dread Wolf, the man she had been so hopelessly emotionally involved with for months, for almost a year. She could admit that she was emotionally invested at this point, because he seemed to understand her like no one else did. But there was still a large chance that maybe he wasn’t real. There was this seed of doubt that was in her head now, thanks to the various conversations between her friends, and she was terrified that could be true.

Plus her outright _lying_ about her job in their latest emails wasn’t going to do her any favors. But if he was right under her nose this whole time? If what he said was true? She wasn’t sure how she would react. So maybe she wanted to tell a little lie about herself. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t completely running blind about the publishing industry, Varric could tell her everything that she needed to know. Or, apparently even Solas, who seemed to be writing a book of his own.

On the other hand, she had Solas. Not that she _had_ him, but...she was enjoying getting to know him. It had been a surprise, and if she was honest, she was starting to get a bit of crush on him. He was more than pleasing to the eyes, his voice was like smooth silk, and she was embarrassed to admit (to herself) that when she dreamed of what meeting Dread Wolf would be like, she imagined he had Solas’ voice.

Which was weird. Totally really weird. And yet…

And yet it also felt kind of right, which caused Leyah to pause. She was wondering more and more lately if she was trying to see if she could find someone who _could_ be like her Wolf in real life -- for some reason, things just seemed to fit with Solas. She couldn’t explain why, and she couldn’t explain how, it was just how it was and how it felt.

So, it kind of helped her understand why she was so nervous to go over to his place.

As he promised, he had sent her his address, and around 6:30 she left her apartment to head over to his. She even dressed up a bit like it was going to be a date, despite the fact that she knew they might paint. Granted, she didn’t know what she was going to be in for, but she was excited. He was new and he was exciting, and if she was honest with herself, she was attracted to him. So why wouldn’t she give him a chance?

Not that this was a date. It totally wasn’t. Just two people hanging out and seeing how they meshed.

Which in all realities was the definition of a date, but she was doing her best not to think in those terms. It was proving to be harder than she expected it to be.

So when she finally arrived to his place, and he opened the door, he actually _laughed_ and she wasn’t sure how to think of that. “I hope you brought a change of clothes!”

She stepped into his apartment as he moved to the side to wave her in, and it wasn’t until then that she noticed that he had a bit of paint on his face. Smirking, she gestured to his cheek, “You have a little blue on your cheek right there. Auditioning for Blue Man Group?”

He laughed, as he shut the door and raised two fingers to his cheek, attempting to wipe away the paint, and shrugged. “I do have the quiet part down, but I don’t know if I could do the rest of that act.” Solas looked her over and seemed surprised, “You really don’t have a change of clothes, do you? I...should have been more specific on the type of painting I had in mind, I apologize.”

“Huh?” Leyah asked, as she set down her purse and her phone, taking off her jacket and resting it over a nearby chair. “Oh I think I can keep my clothes clean, I mean we’re not…” She started to say, as she walked towards his living room, to see an entire wall was a painting. Or, a half finished one. “Okay, _that_ is a lot bigger than I had in mind!” She said, as she walked closer to the painting of trees, wolves, and a beautiful sunset. She had been so mesmerized by the painting, that she hadn’t heard him come up behind her.

“Do you like it?” He asked, and his voice startled her, as she jumped a bit and turned to look at him quickly, grinning though she had a bit of a blush to her cheeks. He smiled at this, seemingly amused at her reaction.

“I love it, actually. I guess I didn’t imagine that your idea of painting was literally painting your walls. I was thinking like...little canvases or something.” A bit sheepish, she bit her bottom lip, trying her best to not look completely awkward by being taken off guard. “And yeah...I think I’m a bit overdressed for this.”

Solas laughed in kind, and there was a soft smile to his lips that seemed to hit something right in Leyah that she couldn’t explain. “I had a feeling you’d realize that, so I brought you this.” He held out a button down shirt, but it was covered in old paint. “I used to wear that a bit when painting, so it might help protect your clothes.”

He held out the shirt for her to take, and she reached for it graciously, and for a brief moment, her hand brushed against his. The contact caused a blush to her face and to his, and they both awkwardly laughed it off for a moment, as she pulled the shirt on over her own t-shirt she had worn over, and he gestured for her to follow him.

“How long have you been working on this?” She asked, as she took stock of the paints and the colors, the design sketched out onto the wall. “I’m surprised your landlord lets you do this!” She teased, “Mine hates when I hang things up on the wall, let alone paint it.”

“I own the building,” Solas said with a shrug, as if it wasn’t an impressive fact, and started mixing some colors over on a table near by. There were old blankets on the floor to capture the paint, and from the look of it, they had got a lot of paint in them through the years. There was a small ladder too, though closed and to the side, and understandably so. The top of the painting on the wall was pretty much done, now it was the middle and the bottom left to complete.

Leyah, though, while she was impressed with the painting, was more shocked by how he just thought owning a building in the city, and a building as _nice_ and _expensive looking_ as this one was not a big deal. “You own the whole building? Are you kidding me? That’s… _wow_.” Suddenly she wondered what she was doing there; that was until she reminded herself that she was interested in getting to know him. He seemed to be interested in getting to know her. So he might apparently be some really rich guy, so what? He sure as hell didn’t dress like one. (She could hear Dorian in her head making some snarky comment about his outfit choices, and this caused her to smirk for a brief moment.)

“Wow? Is that a good wow?” He asked, as he brought over trays of paint, and handed her one, and gestured over to the brushes in a bucket on the floor near the wall.

“It’s a good wow. An _impressed_ wow.” She said, as she picked up a paintbrush and played with it between her fingers, “You know, I think you’re just some weird puzzle. First, I find out you work with Dorian at the museum. Then, you tell me you’re writing a book. _Then_ you’re...a very talented painter, _and_ you own a building? That’s pretty impressive stuff. I’m surprised you don’t flaunt that all around, you’d have women beating down your door.” Leyah decided that she would work on one of the higher pieces on the wall, and since she wasn’t that tall, the ladder would be needed. She set her paint down and went over to the ladder, bring it over, “So do you have someone, Solas?” She asked idly, and hated how she wanted to know more for her selfish reasons than anything else. It made no sense for her to feel that way.

He had set down the paints as well and went to help her with the ladder, and to steady it. As she walked up the ladder, he handed her back her paints and a paintbrush. “Paint whatever elements you want, give it your touch. I’d rather the strokes of the brush mean something rather than just painting by the numbers,” He said, looking up at her with a smile.

“To paint by the numbers, don’t you need actual _numbers_ written on the canvas? I see no numbers here,” She said, dipping her paint brush into the lush greens and mixing a different version of the color, to help with the leaves on the wall. “And you didn’t answer my questions!”

“Do you find it frustrating that I don’t flaunt all that you pointed out?” He asked, as he drew his focus to the wall, working on a large tree trunk. “I would rather someone appreciate me for who I really am, not for the list of accomplishments and lack of that you listed off.” There was a silence between them as they worked before he added, “And no, there isn’t anyone. Though there may be someone I’m interested in.”

This was met with him glancing up at her with a sly smirk, and her turning beat red. Leyah immediately averted his gaze, and while she was smiling in return, she worked on painting. “In your case, I hope whoever you’re interested in, is interested in you too.” There was an air of calm in her voice, and she was trying to hid the smirk on her face when he replied, “I certainly hope so.”

The painting went relatively well, making small talk and getting to know each other. She told him about how she came to the city, and her unlucky streak until she finally got herself settled. He told her about his time before he lived in the city as well, not really able to find a good footing anywhere until he managed to find a place there. They discussed painting, and various other forms of art. They discussed her job and her friends, and his job and his...friends that she already knew. They talked about how weird it was that they hadn’t met until now.

As she finished up the leaves she had painted, she found she had some still left on her small tray, and as she moved down the ladder, she flicked some paint at Solas, and it ended up landing on the side of his face, half on his cheek and half on his ear. He looked at her with surprised amusement, and she wasn’t about to hide her laughter. “You looked like you could use a little color. Green looks good on you!”

Solas smirked, and wiped some of the paint away, but it ended up smudging more on his face. He stood up and walked over to Leyah, and after dipping his finger in paint he had, smeared a large line of green down her cheek. “I think it looks better on you,” he teased.

“Oh, it’s on!” Leyah couldn’t help herself and instead of putting just a finger in the paint tray she had, she put her whole hand on it and started for Solas, who was laughing as he tried to avoid her paint covered hand.

“I’m pretty sure body painting wasn’t what you had in mind when you suggested we paint, Leyah,” He said, though it was hardly audible over his and her laughter, and as she got closer to him, he managed to put his hand around her wrist, keeping her paint filled hand away. So instead she put the tray of paint towards his face, letting the tray fall to the ground, her free hand falling to her side as she tried to move away.

“Maybe it _was_ what I had in mind!” She laughed, and made a face towards him, and soon realized he was moving her paint covered hand towards her own face, and she started to squeal with laughter, “Oh god no! _Not the face!_ ”

She tried to duck the best that she could, but Solas spun her towards him and around so that her back landed against his chest, and he moved one of his hands against her paint filled one, so the paint transferred over to his own hand. “It’s happening, you said it yourself, _It’s on_ ,” he laughed as he left a handprint on her cheek of a mix of blues, greens, and reds on her face.

She made a sound similar to that of a held back groan of frustration, and she turned around to face him, and so that she could get him back for the fact that she had paint all over her. It was totally fine for _him_ to be covered, but for her? Well that was absurd!

Or, that was what she was going to do. But she turned around and misstepped, and her foot hit a can of paint that had been near the ladder, near where they were having their ‘fight’. It tripped her, she ended up falling onto him, and it caught him off guard. With in a flash of a moment, they were both knocked down to the ground, Solas letting out an “ _oof_ ” when his back hit the floor and Leyah made the same exact sound when she landed directly on top of him.

It wasn’t until she realized what happened that she felt his hand resting on her back, and she felt that her legs were pretty entwined with his. Given how she fell, her hand rested on his chest, her own chest pressed hard against his own, to the point where she could feel his heart rapidly beating, she could feel every sharp inhalation of air he took, and she suddenly realized she was painfully aware just how close to him she was. That it would only take a small movement for her lips to crash hard against his, and a playful movement of her tongue against the kiss to grant her the ability to deepen said kiss, to be lost in…

She blinked and cleared her throat, knowing she was inches from him. She hardly knew him, but felt this uncontrollable desire for him that she couldn’t explain. It made no sense, but her own heart rate was picking up, and she could feel her face getting hot, knowing she was blushing deeply. She felt him shift underneath her and she bit her lip, looking at him and their eyes meeting.

“Leyah,” He said, and the raspy sound of his voice hit her in ways she couldn’t describe, sending a hot feeling directly to her core, and she swallowed hard. Both of them covered in paint was not exactly how she imagined a first kiss would go, but she could handle that. She _wanted_ to kiss him.

“Yeah?”

“Your elbow is jabbing into my stomach,” He said, with a small laugh after, though he kept his eyes on her.

“Oh. _OH!_ Oh god, I’m sorry!” She shifted to move and moved off of him completely, sitting on the floor next to him, realizing the paint was all over her jeans as well as the shirt he let her wear. As she had moved, Solas sat up, and her hand print of paint was on his chest. She went to say something, to apologize again and he smiled.

“I have to say, those colors look good on you.” His smile grew a little wider and she knew she was blushing again.

“It’s your fault!”

“You started it.”

“Well you could have complained about it and not fought back!”

Solas shrugged, “I could have, but I’m not one to back down from a good fight,” grinning once more and Leyah felt for a moment that she was going to be a goner. She nudged her shoulder against his, as he shifted and moved closer to her, and the two of them just looked at each other, smiling. Smiling while they admired the mess they made, taking in how they looked, and Leyah could have sworn it felt like he was trying to memorize her every feature.

After a long moment, or it felt long to her, she could tell she was waiting to see if he would kiss her. Or if she could kiss him. Or...but suddenly he was moving to stand up, and he was holding up his hand for her to take. She took his hand as he helped her to stand up, and he pushed a piece of hair from her face to behind her ears. This was it.

She took a step closer to him.

He then said the words she wanted to hear: “I’ll order us some food, you might want to get that paint off your face though.”

Wait. No. _No_ , that wasn’t what she wanted to hear! Her heart was slamming against her chest now, as he moved to walk away, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her. She had wanted to say something like ‘ _No, there’s something I’m more hungry for_ ’ but that sounded lame in her head. She knew she was hesitating.

He could tell too. “Is…” He started, as he looked down at her lips, his eyes lingering there before his eyes met hers again, “something wrong?” He had a curious tone, but a bit of a confused one too, wondering what was going on with her.

She could have kissed him right there. She _should_ have kissed him right there. Instead, she laughed and shook her head, and cleared her throat. “No, you’re right, I should go clean this paint off, and give you this shirt back.” Leyah said with a small nod, and she noticed that he almost seemed _disappointed_ by this.

Well at least she wasn’t the only one slightly disappointed by her inaction. After he told her where to wash the paint off, she disappeared in that direction, as he headed towards the kitchen to order food. She tried her best not to mentally kick herself, but that was going to be _very_ hard not to do.


	13. Chapter 13

While she was off trying to get most of the paint off her skin, Solas found himself with a moment to breathe (because breathing and thinking straight while he was around her was proving to be increasingly harder by the moment). He could have kissed her. He should have kissed her, but then there would have been more that he had to say. He’d need to tell her the truth, but he also reasoned that she had a bit of her own truth to tell. He found it amusing that she had started to craft little lies to ‘Dread Wolf’, while telling _him_ the truth of who she was, as he was now officially telling mostly the truth other than maintaining his lie about being out of town.

Which, brought him to his next idea. He had been invited to Varric’s party already by the man himself, as a means of a ‘ _you owe me for keeping my mouth shut on this disaster of a shit idea you have, Chuckles_ ’. So, he knew he would be attending. With Leyah’s mention of New Years via email though, it got him thinking.

If he was ever to come forward with the truth, it would have to be when he could potentially have a fresh start to the year, no matter the outcome.

The water was still running from the bathroom sink, and so he took a moment to pull out his phone.

> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: New Year’s Eve  
>  Time: 3:50 PM
> 
> I’ll be back in time for New Year’s Eve on Friday. Is it too much to hope for a meeting? Or, a proper first date?

Perhaps it was cruel for him to write her, when she was only steps away from him. When he wanted so badly to just admit everything to her, because he wasn’t sure how much his heart could take the suspense much longer. It was, of course, a problem of his own design, and that was something that he needed to fix. He had always gotten into the problem of creating mistakes and not knowing how to fix them, or making them worse in his attempt to make things better. That had been the case here.

His phone securely back in his pocket, he turned his attention to the kitchen sink, watching the paint off his hands, using a nearby coffee pot as a mirror to catch the rest of the paint on his face. He kept one part though, a swipe of paint she had placed there, perhaps as a way of saying she marked him. As far as he was concerned, she had. Perhaps she was not aware of it, but he had fallen for her. Once he knew who she was, well that only made him fall for her harder. It had been so long since he could connect with someone on a romantic level, to get along so well with them, that he had found he almost misstepped completely.

He needed to make this right.

Just as he turned off the water from the sink, dried his hands and pulled out some takeout menus, he felt his phone buzz in his backpocket. He turned around to see if Leyah was behind him, but he still heard the water from the bathroom, and she wasn’t near him. So he pulled out his phone, a smile curling up on his lips as he read the email.

> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: RE: New Year’s Eve  
>  Time: 3:55 PM
> 
> I have a party that I’m going to, my friend is hosting it. Meet me there? I’ll email you all the information tonight. I’m a little busy right now, but we can talk later! :) 

He set his phone on silent after replying with a simple “ _I look forward to hearing from you_ ” and once more returned his phone to his pocket. To order food, he used a nearby tablet he had, because he didn’t want to risk her looking at his phone for whatever reason. It’d ruin everything.

Actually, chances were larger that _he_ would ruin everything once he told her, but at least he’d finally be honest with her. Fully. She could then accept him, or reject him. The ball would be in her court.

As he finished up the order, he heard the water turn off from the bathroom, and he looked over to watch her emerge with a cleaner face and hands, though there was some paint still coloring her otherwise raven locks. He was looking at her with adoration, and he knew this, could feel the smirk pulling at his lips, and knew he was memorizing how she looked now as if he wouldn’t see her again after he told her the truth.

She seemed to catch onto this, her cheeks coloring a rose color, as she pushed her hair behind her ears. “Did I miss a spot?” She asked, biting on her lower lip, and Solas had to restrain himself. It really was hard for him to do that when she was around.

“It’s all in your hair,” He said, reaching out, wondering if she’d walk away, but she actually stepped closer to him, as he played with the ends of her hair colored with blue, red, and greens. “It actually looks nice.”

Her laugh was like music to his ears, and his smirk turned into a full smile when he heard it. She smiled fully at this too, “You’ve got some on your cheek still,” She said, as she reached out to touch his cheek, and he fought the instinct to lean into her touch, to close his eyes, and just enjoy the moment. Instead, he moved his hand from her hair, and rested his hand over her own, as he gave a small laugh.

“I know. I think it suits me.”

“Yeah, I think it does.” She said, and there was a long silence between them, a _comfortable_ silence, before she broke it, “So, did you order food?”

That called him out of the small moment, as he let go of her hand and she let her hand drop back to his side. He nodded, “Yeah, it should be here in about twenty minutes or so, I just got pizza, I hope that is alright?” He asked, as he went to the fridge, pulling out a drink for her and one for him. It happened to be the beer she had recommended to him at Chargers one night, and she noticed, looking at it with amusement when he handed her the open bottle.

“Yeah, pizza is fine! Nice drink choice,” She said with her lips curled up, and she took a seat at his kitchen counter, taking a drink of the bottle before setting it down on the marble counter top. He leaned on the counter towards her, still standing, opting to ignore the beer for the time being. “So, if you’re friends with Varric, are you going to his party on Friday?” She asked, as she kept eye contact with him. He could have sworn he saw a bit of hope in her eyes.

Or maybe that was his own wishful thinking.

“I am,” He said, keeping a calm face, but his heart was pounding. It was strange to have a moment of fear over going to a party, but well, he supposed he had his good reasons. “I promised him I’d go, he’s intent on introducing me to a few of his friends.” He said with a shrug, picking up the bottle he had gotten for himself, speaking before fully bringing it to his lips, “He wants to set me up with a female friend of his.”

He had said this just as Leyah took a drink of her beer, and she suddenly coughed, her eyes going a bit wide, and he couldn’t help the amusement. Of course, once he knew she was okay. “Uh, sorry about that, not sure what happened there…” She muttered, looking away from him, as she tried to compose herself more. “Uh, but he wants to set you up with someone? Did he give you any hints as to who?” She asked, clearing her throat and seemingly back to normal, but she was looking at Solas as if he shouldn’t dare answer her question.

It was an interesting situation.

“No, just that he knew of someone that might catch my eye. I might have also told him that I have my eye on someone.”

“You...you did?”

“I try to tell the truth as much as I can, so yes.”

“Who is it? If I can...ask?” She asked, her voice going a little quiet, and he found himself compelled to answer her. His lips parted to speak, when he was seemingly saved by the knock on the door. He shrugged, offering her a knowing smile, before heading to the door, and returning with their food.

He had come back to find her typing on her phone, and she quickly put the phone away. If he wasn’t trying to keep a neutral face, he might have raised an eyebrow at this, but instead let it go. Resting the food on the table, they both grabbed a slice and started to talk about random things they could think of. They spoke about the book he was writing, and how he had met Varric. She gave a little insight into her own life as well.

It had surprised him, but she told him about where she came from. Why she had left home. It had started as they were talking about how they both had met Varric, and she had decided she needed a bit of a backstory to it. “I left my clan when I was 15. It wasn’t something that they agreed to of course, I just woke up one morning and I left. Just gave up everything, and decided I would be better off on my own. Which, _of course_ I wasn’t, and I resulted to stealing on the street to try to get by. But I didn’t just steal money, I stole books. Any book I could get my hands on, really. Varric caught me trying to steal one of his. We got to talking, and he decided to take a chance on me. Here we are!” She said with a shrug, as if it were no big deal. “It’s not something we really talk about, because we like to say we’re better than our past, but he’s really important to me. He’s really the only family that I have these days.”

Solas had been quiet as Leyah talked, and he found himself a bit shocked at her backstory. It had never really been mentioned in her emails to him, but he supposed that was because they were both keeping parts of themselves private. But she had chosen to open up to _Him_ , not the man she knew from online, and to Solas that spoke volumes.

In a weird way, it gave him hope that when he did finally tell Leyah, she’d be understanding. That she’d still welcome him for who he was, and maybe, she’d fall in love with him.

Because truth be told, he was a goner and he knew it. Their recent ‘dates’, coupled with the months of emails shared back and forth, that was it for him.Now he just had to make it a reality.

They spoke a bit more about their pasts, and how they both just wanted to move forward, until Leyah realized the time and realized that she had to get going. She helped clean up after their dinner, and Solas walked her to the door, holding her jacket out for her to slide into. With her back to him, he had thought of how easy it would be to press a kiss on her exposed neck, make her turn around and face him so he could kiss her true and properly. Like how he felt she deserved to be kissed.

As this thought left him, and they stood at his door, she opened the door and turned to face him. “This was an amazing time, even if we didn’t get too far on your painting,” She said with a smirk, as she reached out and touched the paint he had left on his face. This time though, he turned, to press his lips against the base of her palm, and watched as her face flushed and she bit her lower lip.

“There’s always next time,” He said, as he lowered her hand from his face, but held onto it still.

“Next time?” She asked, and he couldn’t help but hear the hopeful tone in her voice. Was this too good to be true? Was she really hoping to see him again? _Him_ and not her fabled Dread Wolf?

“Next time, if you want one.”

There was a long pause between them, before she smiled and said, “Yeah, I’d really like that.” 

He grinned then, as she turned to walk out the door, and turned around once more, and it was his turn to speak. “Remember how we talked the other day, about if our meeting at the coffee shop was a date?”

She nodded, “And you said that a date typically ends--”

He finished, “With a kiss.”

He took her hand once more and pulled her towards him, and tried to ignore the beating of his heart against his chest as he leaned in towards her, to find she was also moving towards him as well. As she got closer, his hand moved from her hand to wrap around her waist as he pulled her close to his chest, his lips capturing hers in a tender kiss, full of promise and want.

But he knew he was holding back. There was so much desire for this woman bubbling up inside him, but he was keeping it within him, as much as he could. But the eagerness of her kissing him back, how she stood up on her toes a bit to reach him better, her arms wrapped up around his neck, wanting to get closer to him...he was going to be a goner if he didn’t end the kiss.

As his lungs stung with the need for air, he hesitantly parted from her, creating a small distance between them as he fought the urge to ask her to stay. She didn’t know all of him as he knew all of her. It wouldn’t be far, as much as he wanted her right now. “Until next time,” He said, with a smirk, and she returned the look, with a bit of playfulness behind her eyes.

“Goodnight, Solas,” She said, as she finally stepped away from him, and went out the open door. Unable to help himself, he stepped out into the hallway to watch her walk towards the elevator, and as she reached it, she turned to look back at him, and grinned.

He waited for her to head into the elevator before he slipped back into his home and shut the door behind him. Door shut, he leaned his back against it, as his fingers moved up to touch his lips.

Friday.

He’d tell her Friday.


	14. Chapter 14

After last night, she had almost completely forgot all about emailing Dread Wolf.

_Almost_.

Solas was completely to blame for all of that.

She had gone over to his place, hoping to get to know him better, to see where things lead, and where she had ended up...well she was still replaying it over and over in her head.

That was how someone was supposed to be kissed. Cullen had never kissed her like that, because he was always holding back, as if his heart and mind was somewhere else. She could tell Solas was holding back too, but it felt like a different reason. As if he wanted to give her a reason to see him again.

Now she had to deal with the fact that she was insanely jealous of the idea of Varric setting up Solas with one of his friends, even though she had no reason to be jealous. Even though he had said that he was more interested in someone else, and she couldn’t fight the small fire that had lit inside her. No, she had to deal with that, and with the fact that she was meeting her Dread Wolf for the first time.

And part of her secretly was hoping he wouldn’t show, just so she could spend her New Year's Eve with Solas. Maybe to see where that went.

Another part of her was hoping Solas _was_ her Dread Wolf, but that would just be an insane thought to think about. He didn’t seem to be the type to turn to online dating, even if Dorian had mentioned Solas didn’t seem to get out much. Then again, Leyah hadn’t thought she would be one to sign up for two sites, and end up meeting _two_ people. Or dating one of them. Or pretty much falling in love with one of them, despite never meeting him.

She was doing a lot of different things she never thought she’d do, but here she was, at the end of the year, one more day left until the new year, wondering if she should tell Dread Wolf not to come to Varric’s party with her, because part of her wanted to see what would happen with Solas. The worst of it was that she felt _guilty_ about that, because she _wanted_ to see Solas happy, and wanted him happy with _her_. But she also wanted Dread Wolf for herself too.

She had never felt more like a hypocrite than she had right now.

But it was Thursday. Tomorrow was Friday and tomorrow was Varric’s party. She needed to send Dread Wolf the details. But she had been so focused on the way that Solas had kissed her, how it had sent her onto her toes, practically feeling like she was in one of those old movies where the leading lady’s foot slowly rose at the amazing kiss. How his lips felt against hers, and how they fit so _perfectly_ , and how he had kissed her in such a way that she actually felt a twinge of disappointment when he pulled away.

She would have stayed the night if he had asked her, and it scared her just how badly she had wanted that. It felt like she knew him for a lot longer than she actually did, she felt comfortable with him. He was attractive, intelligent, and had something hidden within him that she wanted to uncover. She loved mysteries, especially ones she could solve.

It was part of the reason why she had fallen for her Dread Wolf as well. Taking his name after an old god that she had read so much about, and was certainly just as mysterious as him. She wanted to know more about him too. What he looked like, what he sounded like.

What he tasted like.

Her thoughts were getting far more devious now, and she was getting distracted, as was evident to how she was walking around her apartment. She’d be cleaning up the living room, but would stop and put her fingers to her lips, grin, and think of how the kiss felt. She’d be moving things around her room, picking up her little wolf statue that she had, and wonder what it would be like to finally be able to touch her own Dread Wolf.

So, Dorian caught onto this rather quickly. He had kept his mouth shut, both of them having the next two days off thanks to the end of the year, and he was helping tidy around the apartment as well. They had a pre-party bash to have, as was tradition, and then they’d go to Varric’s together. So, cleaning the apartment was a must, if they were going to have Krem, Josie, Thom, and Bull over to pregame. Bull had a tendency to break one or two things, with Josie looking mortified, Krem and Thom laughing about it, and Dorian trying to pretend that he wasn’t amused at the antics, but he was.

It hadn’t taken long for Dorian to corner Leyah and demand she tell him everything, and so she did. The date with Solas, the paint fight, how she had thought they would kiss right then, and they ended up kissing at the door anyway. How he was going to Varric’s party tomorrow, but how she was also meeting her Dread Wolf there as well.

Needless to say, he had gotten popcorn at one point, got them two glasses of wine, and shoved Leyah onto the couch to talk things out. There was a lot to consider apparently. Especially since, Varric’s party had a last minute theme change.

“Masquerade? Are you kidding me? That doesn’t seem like something he’d be into at all,” Leyah groaned, “I was looking forward to just wearing jeans and a t-shirt like last year.”

Dorian rolled his eyes, “It will be fun! Varric said a friend of his suggested it, and honestly I think we could all stand to have a little change at these parties! It’s been the same thing for the past five years: go to Varric’s way too large house, enjoy his amazing food, all get drunk, etc, etc. But _Now_ there can be intrigue! Masks! Mystery!”

“You’re going to know who everyone is, it’s not that hard to figure out!”

“Oh just have fun with me on this, for once in your life? Besides, think of it this way: you can have fun with it. Your ‘email friend’ will be there, right? So you can hide behind a mask a little longer with him, while you try to figure out if you want to be with Solas or not. Though, I’m not use to the fact that he’s apparently a master kisser. All I know is that he’s a master pain in the ass at work,” Dorian said with a laugh.

“But we’re not dressing up in gowns right, because I don’t do that.”

“No! God, no. I’m wearing a nice suit. If I can get Bull in a shirt and tie, it will be a miracle. Just wear a cute _and short_ dress.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll have to see what I have in my closet, because it’s too late to buy anything now. But...masks? This is a huge last minute change! How are we…” She started to ramble off, but suddenly Dorian handed her his wine and put the bowl of popcorn in her lap. “You’ve already gotten the masks somehow, haven’t you.” She said with a dry tone, mostly under her breath, but when Dorian shot back _I heard that_ , she smirked.

It wasn’t long before Dorian returned and she had moved the wine and popcorn to the coffee table in front of their couch. He had a box of masks, all intricate and detailed. “How did you get these? They look really old,” She said, as she ran her finger over one of them.

“Because they are. They’re on loan from the museum! We just got them in, and when Varric told me of the changes, I couldn’t help myself! Josie and Solas already picked out a mask from this collection too.” He said, raising an eyebrow, a smirk to his lips. “So, pick one.”

“They’re from the museum? Are you kidding me? These are...I might break them!”

“Please, you won’t. They’re replicas, the real ones are still at the museum, but they sent us along these just in case. But pick one!” Dorian said again, getting a bit impatient, tapping his fingers against the edge of the box the masks were in. “I’m wearing that black and silver one with the diamonds, so don’t even think of touching that one.” He added with a bit of a smirk.

Even though she felt slightly better about the fact that the masks were not the actual real ones, she still felt a bit odd in picking out one. These all seemed too gaudy. Too expensive looking. They weren’t really for her. “What about this one?” She asked finally, as she pulled out the silver and gold half mask, with a black feather on the edge of it. “I have a black dress I can wear with this.”

Dorian looked at the mask, as Leyah picked it up, and rested it to her face, and he made an approval sound once he looked her over. “Hair up or down?”

“Down, I’m too lazy to do anything with it.”

“You’re going to kill me here.” He said with a scoff, as Leyah put the mask down on her lap. “I don’t think that one. It’s not…”

“...really me, huh.” She said, and as Dorian nodded, she laughed, “Alright, what do you suggest then?” She asked, as she watched Dorian turn the box towards him, taking the silver mask she had picked and put it back.

“I had a feeling you might not like all of these, so I got some other ones too at the costume shop down the street. What about this?” He said, holding out a black mask with red accents. It was simple, made of metal, but light enough to rest comfortably on her face. She tried the mask on, and pulled her long wavy hair around her shoulders, and Dorian grinned. “I think that’s the one.”

Leyah stood up and walked over to their mirror hanging on the wall, and looked at her reflection for a bit, and took off the mask. The mask still showed enough of who she was, but also gave an air of mystery as well. She looked back over to Dorian on the couch, “I have a red dress that would go perfectly with this.”

Dorian grinned, “ _Fantastic_! We have a lot to do before tomorrow,” He said excitedly as Leyah brought the mask over to the couch and sat back down, “But let’s focus on me right now. So for my suit, I was thinking…”

Leyah laughed, as she looked down at the mask in her hand and ran her fingers over it, grinning.

*********

While Leyah and Dorian were preparing for tomorrow’s party, Solas was doing the same. But the only difference is that he was doing it with the man hosting the party.

And said man was glaring at Solas as if he could shoot arrows out of his eyes.

“I’m going along with this plan, Chuckles, but only because Sparkler got really excited about this. Are you sure this is a good idea?” Varric asked, his arms crossed over his chest, as he looked at Solas over the table they were sitting at. There was a chess board between them, but Solas had long since won the match, and Varric wasn’t prepared to reset the board just yet.

“I’m telling her, Varric. There is no going back now, but she expects myself _and_ her online contact. Certainly you understand my need for masks here.” Solas said, resting his hands on his leg, his left leg raised, and resting on his right knee at the ankle.

“You don’t strike me as the type who likes to hide behind masks.”

“I don’t like it at all.”

“Then why do it? If this is some scheme to let her down, or destroy her heart, I swear I will…”

“My friend, there is no real need for anger. I’m going to make this right. But it is up to her to accept me or not. She might be more comfortable with a mask, for a little longer.”

Varric sighed, and Solas knew that even the other man had to admit that he was right. It was a strange situation to be in. “Well, I don’t like it. I just want to make that known. Everyone else thinks this is a fun way to spice up the party, but you and I know the truth, and I really don’t like that you haven’t already been honest with her.”

Solas went to speak, but Varric raised his hand and pointed at Solas, “She is family. _My_ family, and I protect my family. Tell her tomorrow, or I tell her myself. I mean that”

There was a silence between the men, before Solas nodded. “Agreed. If I do not tell her by midnight, you have every permission to tell her the truth.”

“By midnight?” Varric asked, raising an eyebrow, before he burst into laughter, “You sound like a cheesy romance novel, but I like it. Just, don’t make that part of your book. I’m going to use this material and milk it for all it’s worth.”

“You’re writing a book about this?” This question was asked with a raised eyebrow and was met with another laugh.

“ _Absolutely_. It’s got mystery, romance, a wonderful comedic relief character - which is me, by the way - and it could sell. Maybe not as much as the ones that Cassandra likes so much…”

“Did I hear my name?” A female voice called out, and both men sitting at the table turned to see Cassandra walking into the dining room, a backpack on her shoulder and in workout clothes. Solas assumed she was coming back from work; he knew she was a trainer, but not much else. He watched as she walked over to Varric and leaned down to kiss him, and he looked up at her with a grin and pure adoration. It was an interesting sight, not one that he had thought he’d be witness to, but interesting all the same.

“I was telling Solas here that he has to tell our Raven the truth,” Varric said, and Solas felt the color drain out of his face, as Cassandra looked at him with a glare.

“You still haven’t told her? Maker, what is _wrong_ with you?”

“Varric,” Solas asked, looking to the man with narrowed eyes, “How many people have you told?”

Cassandra crossed her arms, standing next to Varric, glaring disapprovingly at Solas, as Varric held out his hands towards Solas in a placating manner. “Relax, Chuckles, I only told her. She’s copy editing my book, and I told her about my ideas for a new story.”

“And I know him well enough to know that all his stories are grounded in some truth, no matter how convoluted it is at the time,” Cassandra chimed in, “Plus he knows not to lie to me.”

“I know that now.” Varric chimed in, as he looked up to her with a grin and she laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, he knows that now.” She sighed, shaking her head in amusement, but soon brought her attention back to Solas, who decided he was feeling rather uncomfortable under her stare. How did Varric do it? “You must tell her. It is what is right, and it is what is good.”

Solas nodded, “I am, because you’re right. It’s what I should have done in the first place, and I’m not making that mistake again.”

He was met with “You better not be” from both of them at the same time, which ended up breaking the tension in the room, and caused a bit of laughter.

But it was true he couldn’t make the same mistake again, and tomorrow would be it.

Either Leyah would accept it, or she’d hate him. And that was a risk he just had to take.


	15. Chapter 15

> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 7:35 PM
> 
> I sent you the invitation and the address to the party. What time will you get there? How will I know it’s you? Make sure to email the guy on the invite to let him know you’re coming.
> 
> \--
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 7:37 PM
> 
> That’s a nice side of town, your friend is very lucky. I suppose you’ll know me by my mask, if we are to wear them. Is that how I’ll know you too?
> 
> \--
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 7:39 PM
> 
> I’m sending you a photo of the mask I’m wearing. I’ll be in a red dress, if that helps to pick me out in a crowd.
> 
> [Image Attached - my_mask.png]
> 
> \--
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 7:40 PM
> 
> I imagine that I’ll be able to find you, even without those details. I don’t have a photo to send you, but you’ll be able to find me. I’ll be the wolf.

**********

_Leyah - 8:00 PM_  
Did you hear about Varric’s new change?

_Solas- 8:00 PM_  
To the party?

_Leyah - 8:01 PM_  
Yeah! Masks?

_Solas- 8:01 PM_  
It was my idea, actually.

_Leyah - 8:02 PM_  
It was?

_Solas- 8:02 PM_  
I thought it could add a bit of intrigue to the night.

_Leyah - 8:03 PM_  
It’s just a large group of us, it’s not as if we don’t all know each other.

_Solas- 8:03 PM_  
You know all 40 people who were invited?

_Leyah - 8:03 PM_  
Varric knows 40 people?

_Solas- 8:03 PM_  
Are you surprised? I was more surprised the number was only 40. But, see, it’s more fun with masks now.

_Leyah - 8:04 PM_  
Yeah. Easier to hide behind.  
My friend is coming.

_Solas- 8:08 PM_  
Your friend?

_Leyah - 8:08 PM_  
My online friend. The one who stood me up.

_Solas- 8:10 PM_  
Ah.  
Are you going to see where things can lead with him?

_Leyah - 8:10 PM_  
I don’t know.

_Solas- 8:12 PM_  
Ah.

_Leyah - 8:12PM_  
Stop saying ‘ah’. Please.  
I know it’s not...okay the timing is really bad. Considering the other night.

_Solas- 8:12 PM_  
Agreed.

_Leyah - 8:13 PM_  
But I owe it to myself to finally figure out who this guy is.  
I really hope you understand.

_Solas- 8:13 PM_  
I do.  
Doesn’t mean I’m not jealous though.

_Leyah - 8:13 PM_  
Considering I was about to spend the night watching Varric set you up with various women, I was already slightly jealous.

_Solas- 8:14 PM_  
Slightly?

_Leyah - 8:14 PM_  
Slightly.

**********

> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:20 PM
> 
> Can I ask you something? How do I know you’ll actually show up? How will I know that you won’t just not show up again?
> 
> \--
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:21 PM
> 
> I suppose that you don't know that I will. But I promise you, I will be there. I’ve already made sure that I could, I’ve told you the mask I will be wearing. I have already RSVP’ed to your friend.
> 
> \--
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:23 PM
> 
> I still need proof. I don’t want to get my hopes up...and honestly you make everything so much more complicated now.
> 
> \---
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:26 PM
> 
> Hasn’t everything been complicated from the start? You said that once. But hold on. Let me see what I can give you for proof.
> 
> Okay. Attached is a photo of the mask that I have to pick up tomorrow at the store. And, a screenshot of my RSVP to your friend, with his reply. The rest you will have to choose to trust me on.
> 
> [Image Attached - mask.jpg, screenshot.jpg]
> 
> \--
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:28 PM
> 
> I think I’ll be able to find you with that! Okay, I’m trusting you. Don’t let me down.
> 
> \--
> 
> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:30 PM
> 
> I promise you that I won’t. At least, never on purpose.
> 
> \--
> 
> To: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
> From: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
> Subject: RE: Tomorrow’s Party!  
> Time: 8:35 PM
> 
> That’s all I can ask for.

**********

  
_Leyah - 9:00 PM_  
So, I’m definitely seeing you tomorrow, right?

_Solas - 9:02 PM_  
Absolutely. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up! The next one might be a little bit of a wait, but it is on it's way!


	16. Chapter 16

This party was already so different from the previous years, that Leyah found herself almost lost in the sea of people. What was going to be about forty people at the party turned into about eighty people at the party. Thank god for Varric’s overly large house, or Leyah wasn’t even sure everyone would fit. Still, it was a little too easy to get lost in the crowd here, and that was exactly what was happening now. She felt a little lost in general, but more on how she _felt_ than anything else.

She was walking around the house, brushing against people she did (or maybe didn’t) know, trying to see if she could find out who was who behind the mask. She had already picked out most of her friends, Dorian was hanging around Bull, who wasn’t that part to pick out. Krem was hanging out with Josie and Thom, and Varric of course was by Cassandra’s side.

She had yet to find Solas though, and she was surprised by that. He had promised he’d be here. But the night was still young and she had only been here an hour herself -- maybe she had missed him in the crowd of people.

There also was no sign of her Dread Wolf yet. Which she might have slightly expected but she was still holding out hope. He _promised_ and had given her proof that he intended on being there. Still she held onto her phone tightly as she walked around the room. She felt a bit overdressed for the usual party, but then again this was no usual party.

All because _Solas_ had suggested wearing masks to Varric. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around why he would suggest that, and why Varric would agree. For all intents and purposes, Solas was new to their group of friends, so why would Varric agree so easily to a change in his New Year’s Party that he had every year? Something didn’t quite add up, but even Leyah had to admit that wearing a dress like this, a mask, well she felt like a different person. She felt a little _bolder_.

That didn’t stop her from having a death grip on her phone though, a little worried that she hadn’t heard anything from her Dread Wolf. Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard anything from Solas either. She looked down at her phone,pulling up her email, about to send a message when a hand touched her shoulder.

She turned around to see Dorian, mask and all, looking at her with curiosity.

“You know, just because I can’t see your eyebrows doesn’t mean I don’t know one is currently raised at me,” Leyah said, her hand down to her side, her free hand resting on her hip.

Dorian laughed. “You know me well, which is to be expected, of course. No word yet?”

“How can you tell?”

“Well you're worrying is making your whole look just sort of fall apart, you really must stop that. We didn’t spend hours getting ready for nothing.”

“You spent hours, I kinda paced around nervously…”

Dorian waved her off, and Leyah laughed. He sighed, “Point still stands, you look too beautiful to be wringing your hands over your phone like that. Hold that any tighter, and your phone will snap in half.” Dorian took off his mask and held it in his hand, as he looked to Leyah with a small look of concern on his face. “Just do not stress about it, okay? And yes, I know, ‘Dorian, that is easier said than done,’ but you need to trust me on this.” His hand once again rested on her shoulder in a comforting manner.

“I know you’re right, I just….” Leyah’s voice trailed off for a moment, as she shrugged, “I’m just worried. But you’re right. I should focus on the party. I need to go see Varric anyway, I haven’t seen him since I got here!” She needed to stop worrying on if she was going to see her Dread Wolf. There was a chance he might not still show up, and she knew that. But she was still holding on to hope.

“Well looks like Varric is talking to Solas right now,” Dorian said as he gestured behind Leyah, and she turned around to see both men talking, Varric waving her over and Solas waving a hello. Dorian grinned. “Go say hi to them, I have to go make sure Bull hasn’t broken anything yet...or is planning to…” He kissed Leyah’s cheek and went off in the other direction, as Leyah started towards Varric and Solas.

***************

“Varric, what are you doing?” Solas hissed through a smile, his eyes a little wide but glad his mask covered most of that. His Wolf mask was hidden away in Varric’s guest room.

“She was looking stressed! I haven’t seen her all night, and she lit up when she saw us, so why don’t you just relax a little chuckles.” Varric said, as he looked towards Solas. Solas, on his end, was trying to keep his cool. Tonight was the night. He was going to tell Leyah everything, and there was not going to be any backing down. He made a promise.

He liked to keep his promises, he liked to stand by his word. Not that he had been able to do so much lately, due to his own stupidity, but he could make up for it now.

It didn’t mean that he wasn’t nervous as hell as he watched Leyah come towards him, a pure vision of beauty in her outfit, and he wished he could just kiss her there in front of everyone, to just tell her everything right then and there. He wanted to. But he had a plan. A plan he knew had to work out, or he’d have even less of a chance of getting a hold of the situation than he already did.

He had let it spiral out of control, his nerves and fears getting the better of him and he didn’t want to make that same mistake again. It was the end of the year, and that meant he could try to start fresh. If, she accepted him. If she wanted him.

A lot was riding on her shoulders, he thought, and she wasn’t even aware of it.

As Leyah approached them, a grin on her deep red lips, he noticed the almost death grip on her phone. Was she waiting for a sign from her Dread Wolf? “Good evening,” He said as she got closer to them, and grinned towards her. Being near her was causing him to already rethink everything. His heart was in his throat, he could feel his palms getting sweaty.

“Hello Solas,” Leyah responded with a smile, and looked towards Varric, “I had no idea you knew this many people, Varric!” There was a teasing tone to her voice, because of course the better joke would have been who _didn’t_ Varric know.

Varric of course found this hysterical, and he looked at Leyah with this grin that Solas assumed was one for her. She had told him how close they were, and Solas had gotten the ‘ _If you hurt her, I will hurt you_ ’ conversation from Varric, so it was easy to see the friendship, the family between the two of them.

“You know, Ley, I saw your Wolf friend earlier,” Varric said suddenly not looking at Solas but only Leyah when he said it, and Solas was thankful he didn’t have anything to drink at the moment, as he would have certainly choked on it. Leyah’s reaction to the news was...well it was something.

She smiled easier, her grip on her phone lightened, and she seemed like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. There was a moment of guilt in Solas’ chest that he couldn’t be rid of, but if he was being honest with himself this wasn’t the first time he had felt that this night. “You did?” She said, her tone happy and Solas swallowed hard, and looked at his hands for a moment.

Which, apparently was the wrong move, because now her attention was on him. “Oh. Uh, Varric, can I have a moment with Solas?” She asked, and Varric nodded, looking at Solas with a mischievous grin as he went to go most likely find a drink or find someone else to bother.

“Solas, I’m sorry, I…”

Wait, why was she apologizing? Wait, was it… _oh no_. “Leyah, there is nothing to apologize for. You’re looking forward to meeting this man, and I wish you to be happy.”

“Then why did you look at your hands? I thought I was making you feel awkward, I..”

Would there ever be a time he _wasn’t_ fucking something up? “No, no, it was more that I felt as though I was intruding on a personal conversation. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, though that proved difficult given my location to your conversation.”

For some reason that made her laugh, and a bright smile came to her lips, and god he just wanted to tell her everything then and there. She lightly rested her hand on his arm, and the contact enough was to send sparks through him, a burning in him that he just wanted to satisfy. “Well, either way, I don’t want to do that. Make you...uncomfortable. But…” She stopped and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow (not that she could see it behind his simple mask) and she started up again. “But, where are all those women Varric was going to set you up with? I was fully prepared on being jealous all night.”

“I told Varric I wasn’t interested,” He said, in a moment of honesty, “There’s only one woman here I’m interested in, and I’m looking at her.”

That brought color to her cheeks, almost the color of her dress, and he couldn’t help the smug smirk that played on his lips. She, of course, caught this, and squeezed his arm. “Can I be honest with you?”

“Of course,” He said, as Leyah’s arm dropped from his own, and she played with the ends of her long black hair.

“I’m almost hoping he doesn’t show, because I don’t think he’ll be able to compare to you.”

_Oh._ If she only knew how those words felt, and he sighed softly, trying to hide the wealth of emotions shooting through him at the moment. Now he really did need to go through with this. He really did need to tell her.

They stood there, in silence, easy smiles on both of their faces, and he realized she was leaning in towards him. He did the same, and just as their lips were about to touch, she stopped. “But I still need to see this through. I have to get closure.”

Solas cleared his throat, his heart feeling as though it was going to burst through his chest. “Of course.” He understood, of course he did. He understood more than she knew. But she’d know tonight. “He could already be here, you should try to find him,” He said, and for a moment felt a jealousy he couldn’t describe. Even though _he_ was the man she would be looking for that night.

“Thank you, Solas.” She said softly, as she took a step back, “For understanding.”

He nodded, and leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek, and departed her side to disappear into the crowd. He didn’t look back towards her, because he feared what he would do. She needed the closure, and he was going to give it to her. No matter the risk, no matter the outcome.

***************

Leyah hadn’t expected to feel this amount of guilt, as she watched Solas disappear into the crowd. As he did so, she lifted her hand to where he had kissed her on the cheek, and lightly touched where his lips had been, feeling her heart pounding. Why was this suddenly so difficult? Should she really let this happen, let Solas walk away like that? He was real, he wasn’t someone that was only text on a screen.

But she had meant what she said. She needed closure. She needed to know if she could close the book on Dread Wolf, or if she could start a new chapter with him. She had gotten too invested in him, as much as she had hated to admit to it at first. She looked forward to hearing from him. She lit up every time she got a message from him, any time he wanted to just pick her brain on various topics. He saw her for who she _could_ be, not who she was.

But, Solas seemed to do the same. Somehow she felt as though she knew him far better than she actually did, because everything seemed to come so easily to her when she was around him. She smiled easier, she grinned when she got his text messages, how he randomly asked her questions about her day…

In a way, Solas seemed a lot like Dread Wolf. They had the same curiosity towards her, they both talked in the same manner, though Solas was a little less formal than Dread Wolf was. But she knew she had started to fall for Solas, in the same way that she had fallen for Dread Wolf.

It was complicated, because in some way she was praying that Solas was him. Because then she could have the best of both worlds. But if he was, could she handle him lying to her?

For the next few hours, Leyah was weighing the pros and cons about actually seeing Dread Wolf, or just deciding to see if Solas would be into seeing if they could be something. He _had_ said he was interested, after all. So while she mingled, talked to friends, had a few drinks, she was still thinking. Waiting. Waiting for any sort of sign.

She hadn’t seen Solas at all since he disappeared into the party, and considering how huge Varric’s house was, and how this party just seemed to be adding more and more people, it made sense. Still, she wanted to find him. See if he could make her decision for her. She knew what he’d say. _Pick me_. Or maybe, that was what she wished he’d say.

That was it. She had to make up her mind, and it was nearing 11 o’clock at night. She still hadn’t seen her Dread Wolf, she hadn’t heard from him. Solas was real. Solas was here. Solas had this way of knocking the wind right out of her, just by smiling at her.

She made up her mind.

She started to try to find him.

Then, her phone buzzed in her hand.

Leyah stopped in her tracks, and looked at her phone, swiping it open to see she had an email. From Dread Wolf. Suddenly her decision didn’t make so much sense to her now, as the butterflies in her stomach started to move frantically around, and she knew she was holding her breath. Was he going to tell her he wasn’t here? Was he just giving up?

No. It was the opposite of that.

> To: the_inquisitor@fadematch.com  
>  From: dreadwolf@fadematch.com  
>  Subject: Well...  
>  Time: 10:45 PM
> 
> I’ve arrived. I’d love to see you, if you’re ready for that.
> 
> Meet me on the second floor balcony. Looks like we can be alone here.
> 
> And for proof that I am here, see the attached photo.

She clicked on the attachment to find a selfie of her Dread Wolf, with his wolf mask, standing on the second floor balcony of Varric’s house. She could see the windows behind him, and in the window was a shadow of Bull and Krem laughing about something. Wearing their masks that she had already seen them in that night.

He was here. _Dread Wolf was really here_. She started to walk quickly towards the stairs, until she actually picked up a run, not caring that she looked strange weaving in and out of people in her short dress and heels.

As she reached the stairs, she passed Varric, who caught her eye. She grinned towards him, and he returned the grin, because she knew he had to know. Her mystery man was here. She might have her happy ending.

She ran up the stairs and towards the balcony, and just outside of it she stopped. She tried to catch her breath. She checked her reflection in a nearby mirror, and then opened the doors to the balcony.

A man stood, dressed in a suit, with is back to the doors. His mask was one that covered the top of his head as well as the front, so there was no evidence of hair or what color it was, or anything else. His hands were held behind his back, and he was standing up straight.

_Please be him,_ Leyah thought frantically in her head, as she took a step forward, her heels clicking on the tiles of the floor, _Please be real_.

As she approached, the man turned around and there he was. Wolf mask covering the top half of his face, so that she could see a grin beneath it. He held out a hand for her, and as she approached, she took his hand into her own.

“You’re here,” She said, almost surprised, but excited. “You’re real.”

“Inquisitor,” Her Dread Wolf laughed, “I am,” he said and she grinned.

But the grin turned to confusion, and her heart pounded. She knew that voice. “Wait, you sound so familiar.”

“Because I am,” He said, as he took a step towards her.

Leyah reached up to untie the mask from behind her Dread Wolf’s head, and swallowed hard as she went to remove the mask. The man in front of her didn’t flinch, and he didn’t tell her to stop.

So, slowly, she removed the mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've noticed, I've updated the chapter count - meaning the next chapter is the last one! I hope you like it, and thank you all so much for reading! I have been blown away by the number of views and kudos, and all of your lovely comments have been amazing! Thank you for reading my little story! 
> 
> See you next week for the end (if I can hold off that long)!


	17. Chapter 17

Slowly, Leyah removed the mask, though she wanted to stop herself. What if this man wasn’t what she wanted? What if this was a huge mistake? She could still go back and stop this. She could put his mask back on, tell him that she couldn’t do this anymore, and move on.

But she had to know. She had told the truth when she spoke to Solas, she needed closure. She needed to know who the man was in front of her.

But she had hesitated, and he had moved his hands to rest of hers, “It’s alright,” He said to her, as he helped guide the mask off of his face, and the mask was soon completely off his face.

Leyah was almost scared to look up, but she did to see a familiar man in front of her. “Solas?” She asked, as she reached up and touched his cheek, “Is...is this a joke?” She asked, her voice showing a tone of hurt. She hated that she felt that way, that this was a joke. It had to be. There was no way this was real, that he was actually the person that she wanted all along. There was no way. The world wouldn’t be that kind to her.

“No,” Solas said, shaking his head. “This is no joke. Come, sit with me. I think we should talk.”

“That’s an understatement,” She said, though her heart was pounding loudly. There was this feeling in her that she couldn’t describe, the feeling of getting everything she wanted, but not trusting in it. Leyah wasn’t someone who usually got what she wanted. She had to work for it, she had to fight for everything.

Yet...here Solas was, holding a wolf mask, apparently he was the man she had been speaking to for months. And the man that she most recently had been falling for. This couldn’t be right. Because that also meant that for a large part of her getting to know him, even though it had only been a few weeks, was him lying to her.

Though, a few weeks wasn’t so bad compared to months of well, being the person who lied, or going through the motions because you’re afraid to make a real move towards your happiness, or leading someone on, all which was what she had done to Cullen. So, perhaps she couldn’t be that upset; at least Solas had come clean (almost, anyway) and hadn’t lead her on.

Yet.

Fuck, this was confusing.

She followed him to a bench on the balcony, and sat down, waiting for Solas to join her. He did, and he held the wolf mask in his hand, while she took off her own mask and set it to the side. It was a beautiful but slightly chilly night, and she shivered a bit as she sat down.

Which, apparently caused Solas to take off his suit jacket - different from the suit he was wearing before, so at least he had the dedication to give some air of mystery, which she had to admit she liked - and put it around her shoulders. She closed her eyes as she tried not to take in the scent of the jacket, how comfortable she felt in it. There was something they needed to discuss, and she needed to focus, but it was so hard when she was on the verge of having everything she wanted. Feeling conflicted didn’t begin to describe it. “You said we should talk,” She finally said, looking over to him, and reached over to take the mask from his hands, and she held it in hers. She ran her fingers over the fine details and outlines, ran her finger down the nose. “So, talk. Did you always know? That it was me, I meant.”

Solas was silent for a moment, but he didn’t tear his eyes away from Leyah. He nodded, and she felt her breath get stuck in her throat. “Not when we started emailing. When I ran into you at the coffee shop, I knew then. I had found out the day before we had agreed to meet. Dorian had mentioned ‘Dread Wolf’, and based on how you reacted, I started to have an idea it was you. I talked with Varric, and he confirmed it.”

“Wait, Varric knew too?” Leyah asked, and couldn’t help the feeling of odd betrayal she had. Varric knew, and he never told her? Who else was keeping secrets from her?

“He didn’t tell you because I asked him not to. Because I had every intention on meeting up with you at the coffee shop, revealing who I was, and then seeing what happened. But I had started to worry; what if you liked the man you were speaking with online, and not _me_? Things were always easier for me in our emails.” He paused before speaking again, “I was worried I would disappoint you.”

“Well, you _did_ disappoint me when you didn’t show.”

“Technically, I did show. We spent the day together,” Solas pointed out, and Leyah sighed.

“ _Technically_ yes, but you lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie, I just withheld the full truth. And you were not exactly truthful with me either,” He noted, and she opened her mouth to protest, but he was right. Once she had gotten to know Solas, once she had started to fall for him, she started to fabricate little lies about herself to Dread Wolf. Maybe as if she was trying to create distance. Solas had been right.

“You know,” Leyah said, setting the wolf mask in her hands down, as she turned more to face Solas, “I had been so...torn coming into this tonight. I wasn’t sure you’d show, you as Dread Wolf, that is, because you hadn’t before. I felt conflicted because part of me didn’t _want_ you to show, _him_ to show.”

Solas looked at her with a bit of curiosity on his features, “Why?” She wondered if he knew the answer already. She thought maybe he did, but she was going to say it anyway.

“Because I started to fall for _you_ , Solas. And you are real, and you are wonderful, and you...seemed to get me in ways no one else had. Even more so than your online persona. I felt comfortable with you, I felt...like I was throwing away a chance to be happy.” Leyah swallowed hard, and she moved to stand up from the bench, feeling her nerves picking up. As she stood up, Solas reached out and grabbed her hand, and he stood up too.

He placed a hand on her waist, the other held onto her hand. “I didn’t tell you because I was scared. Because as the online persona you had, I had fallen in love with you.” As he said those words, Leyah felt the wind get knocked out of her, and her eyes went a little wider, as Solas continued. “I wanted to know if I would fall for you as who you are, not who you were online, and I did. I think I fell for you harder, because you just showed me all of these sides to you I hadn’t seen before.”

There was a silence between them, Leyah too afraid to say anything. She wanted to be angry. In a way, she was. But they had both lied. Perhaps he told a bigger lie than she did, but she had also _hoped_ there was a way that they were the same person. And now that she was presented with this gift, she wasn’t sure what to do with it. She had a tendency to ruin good things, and found herself terrified. What did she do now?

“I’m so sorry, that I didn’t tell you. That I was a coward, there is no other word for it,” Solas broke the silence, as his hand moved from her hand to brush against her cheek. She leaned into the touch, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her heart. Trying to regain some sort of composure. “But if you’ll forgive me, I’d like the chance to make it all up to you. I’d like to see what could happen. If you’ll have me.”

There was a lot to consider. He had lied to her about who he was, but she understood the reasoning. Had the tables been turned, she might have done the same exact thing; she was already fabricating lies about herself to him via email, so there was no saying what she would have done if she knew the truth. But she also knew she wanted to be happy. She wanted a chance to find a love that she felt she deserved, not one she was settling for. Her relationship with Cullen had felt like she was settling, and it had felt like _he_ was settling, and she didn’t want that to happen again. She didn’t want to feel that again.

She took a deep breath, considering her options. Leyah opened her eyes, and when she did, she felt overcome with emotion, and felt her eyes starting to water. But these weren’t tears of anger or disappointment. It was excitement, it was happiness. “I wanted it to be you,” She said finally, “I wanted it to be you _so badly_.”

It was with that, that she leaned in and kissed him, hard. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist to pull her close to him, his other hand getting tangled up in her hair. The passion between them was going to cause her to burn up but she didn’t care. She wanted this. She wanted this feeling she had, she wanted this happiness, she wanted kisses like this every day. She wanted his arms wrapped around her tightly, afraid to let go. She wanted his hands on her, she wanted his lips on her, she just _wanted_ him.

She kissed him until she couldn't anymore, until her lungs started to burn for air, and they parted, both of them resting their foreheads against the other, and Solas gave out a soft chuckle after.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, wanting to stay where she was, but took a small step back enough so she could see him.

“I didn’t think that this would work out like this. I hoped, of course. But part of me was preparing for the worst.”

“Don’t think I’m still not a little annoyed at you for lying to me,” Leyah said honestly, “But maybe I’m feeling a little more forgiving right now. It is the end of the year, after all.”

Solas nodded, and slid his hands up to her shoulders, his jacket still over her, and he grinned. “You can be annoyed at me, I deserve that.”

“You know, I actually worried about what to do if I had to turn you down,” She said, “To be with my _mysterious_ online contact. Glad I don’t really have to do that, I think I’ve had enough of turning people down for a while.”

Solas nodded, “Well luckily for me, for _both_ of us, things worked out.” He leaned in to kiss her again, and she eagerly gave into it, and she smiled against the kiss. It was a little shorter this time, but she didn’t mind. They had all the time in the world, or at least it felt like they did. She liked that feeling.

“Come on, let’s head inside. It’s got to be almost midnight now,” She said, as he moved his hands off her shoulders, and slipped a hand into hers. She squeezed it, and grinned. She lead the way back into the house, and as the door to the balcony shut behind them, she slipped off his jacket and handed it back to him.

“We left our masks outside,” He commented, as they started to walk down the stairs together, to join the rest of the party.

“I don’t think we really need them anymore, do you?”

Solas smiled, “No, I don’t think we do.”

***************

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Solas could not believe his luck. Would it had been that easy to just admit who he was from the beginning? He wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t exactly go back in time and find out, and he honestly wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. He had made a lot of mistakes in his life, but for the first time he felt like he had something good. That his mistake had ultimately turned into something that was helpful for him, and that was what he needed. He needed to know that sometimes, his methods worked. Even if they were a little off. But he also needed to know that...well, being truthful was usually the best policy, and he wasn’t going to make it a plan to do something like this again.

He got lucky this time, and he wasn’t going to chance losing Leyah. He didn’t need to hide behind emails and masks, he could just be himself. He knew the full person of who he was, was ultimately flawed, but everyone had flaws. If Leyah could learn to accept them, accept _him_ , he had a shot at being happy. He liked his chances.

In the living room of Varric’s house, most of their friends were gathering around the television to watch the ball drop. Solas draped his jacket over a nearby chair, as Leyah kissed his cheek and went to go talk to Dorian for a moment.

Varric spotted Solas and took the chance to come over, looking at him with hesitance. “Chuckles, tell me that you…”

“She knows. She knows everything, and we still have a lot to talk about,” He said as he put his hands into his pockets, “But I think things are going to be good.”

“Yeah? Well, shit, Chuckles, that’s what I like to hear!” Varric grinned, “Wait until Cassandra hears she doesn't have to kill you after all! She was getting worried about that, something about not wanting to ruin her dress… and she does look amazing tonight.”

Solas laughed, “Yes, I’d hate for her to ruin her outfit.”

“Who is ruining whose outfit?” Came a voice, and Solas grinned, seeing Leyah approach them with Dorian, and she took to Solas’ side, slipping her hand back into his. The smirk on Dorian’s face was one of amusement, and also one that Solas hoped he never really had to see again. He’d get an earful the next time they were at the museum, he was counting on it.

“We’re not ruining Cassandra’s outfit, apparently,” Solas replied.

“Well, good, she looks amazing tonight!” Leyah laugh, and then looked at Varric, “And _you_ ,” She pointed at him with a scowl, “Don’t think I’m not mad at you too for keeping secrets from me. You have a lot of explaining to do!”

“Excuse me! _I_ wasn’t the one who was really keeping the secret from you!” Varric protested, and Solas was doing his best to hide his amusement, but knew it wasn’t working. Leyah caught onto this, and gave him a bit of a devious look that sent sparks through him.

“Oh I know you weren’t Varric, but he’s going to be punished for that too. But my idea of punishment for Solas is going to be a little different than what I have in mind for you…”

Both Varric and Dorian at the same time made a disgusted face and said “ _Ew_ ,” which caused everyone to laugh. The small group talked a bit about what happened, Solas and Leyah giving the sparknotes, knowing fully that Dorian would have a million questions after. As they talked, more people started to filter into the room as it got closer to midnight. Bull appeared by Dorian’s side, and Cassandra joined Varric. Everyone seemed to pair off, excitedly chatting about the new year, what they would do, what new excitement it would bring.

Solas and Leyah had moved a bit away from the group, over by the window, and he had his arm wrapped around her waist. He didn’t want to let go. Now that he had her, he didn’t want to lose her, and would do what he could to make her happy. He hoped that he could. “What are your resolutions for the new year?” He asked, as someone announced there were 30 seconds to go before the ball dropped.

“I’m not sure,” Leyah said with a shrug, as she leaned into him a bit, “I’m thinking I might explore a relationship with this guy I met online though.”

“Oh, yeah?” Solas grinned, “Hopefully he’s a good enough man for you.”

20 seconds to go.

“I think he will be. As long as he doesn’t keep any more secrets from me.”

“I promise that I won’t.”

“Then I promise the same.”

“Good,” Solas grinned, as the countdown started.

_Ten…_

“You know, the person you kiss at midnight is the person you kiss all year,” She said, with a laugh.

_Five…_

“I think I can manage that,” He joked back, grinning.

_Four…_

_Three…_

“I sure hope so,” she replied as she leaned in towards him.

_Two…_

_One…_

_Happy New Year!_ Everyone cheered, people were hugging each other, wishing each other a happy new year, noise makers were being used, and champagne was being poured.

In the corner by the window, Solas was kissing the woman he planned on kissing for the rest of the year, and years to come if she’d let him.

As the kiss parted, and Leyah looked up at him with a grin, he knew he was pretty damn lucky.

He wouldn’t want it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end! Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my silly little story! Thank you all for your kudos and your comments, too! This story took off it ways I didn't expect, and I loved reading all your comments! I may return to this universe some day, but for now, enjoy and thank you!


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